


A Ride In The Sky

by Jude_Rigby



Series: Beware Of Darkness [5]
Category: Castle (TV 2009)
Genre: Airplane Crashes, Crime, Drama, F/M, Family, Family Feels, Family Fluff, NTSB, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-13
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:00:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 18
Words: 112,889
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28051302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jude_Rigby/pseuds/Jude_Rigby
Summary: A case involving the murder of an unknown woman in an alley brings Castle and Beckett into the world of aircrash investigations and the NTSB. They race to find the killer as more victims; and more warnings; appear. Fifth in the Beware of Darkness series.
Relationships: Kate Beckett & Richard Castle, Kate Beckett/Richard Castle
Series: Beware Of Darkness [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2006014
Kudos: 3





	1. Prologue- Now I Am Alone

**Author's Note:**

> The title of this story is a lyric from the song Jet by Paul McCartney, from his album Band on the Run. The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song Long Leather Coat, also by Paul McCartney, from his album Off the Ground: The Complete Works.

Sliding on the icy pavement, the young woman looked behind her and saw that for the moment she was free. Turning, she started to run and instantly felt a thousand pricks of ice on her left foot. She whirled back around to get her high heel, toppled on its side on the black ground. But before she could grab it, she heard footsteps behind her, and took off at a run, screaming for help.

What she had thought would be a narrow street to a larger one where she could finally find someone to help her, the woman nearly ran into a brick wall that was almost gone in the darkness of the alley. She screamed louder, looking for a fire escape that she could maybe use. But the buildings were smooth on both sides, only the windows marring each floor. She cursed her luck at being caught in between what looked to be two office buildings; all the windows were dark. She looked ahead of her, and saw her attacker walking, almost leisurely to her.

"Please," she sobbed as she slid down to the ground, not even feeling the cold then as she knew her life was in their hands. "Please, I have children, don't hurt me. I don't even know who you are, I won't say a word!"

There was no reply from the attacker, and she tried to press herself harder against the brick wall behind her, begging as hard as she could, trying to get some kind of sympathy. But her attacker's shadow engulfed her as they closed the gap between them and finally were towering above her, a shadow in nothing but black that she had been unable to identify as she had been chased down like she was little more than an animal. And she knew when they began to reach down that she was out of time, and keeping a mental image of her husband and two sons in front of her as hands reached out to her throat, she tried to fight back though she knew her attacker was in complete control.

* * *

Tossing aside the weapon as it was useless since it had fulfilled its purpose; the attacker reached into a pocket and pulled out the piece of paper prepared in advance. Everything had been prepared in advance; though they'd had to herd her to the alley as she'd nearly escaped; but it had been easy, it was as if she had been little more than cattle. She was useless; the beginning domino in a chain the attacker was using to finish what should have been done many years before.

Unfolding the paper, the attacker set it down on the woman's chest, seeing for a moment the tracks of tears reflecting the little light in the alley; tears that had fallen down her face as she'd begged uselessly for her life. A smile spread across the attacker's face though it was covered by a mask, as their gloved hand picked up her limp wrist, resting it gently on the piece of paper to keep it in place. Moving it almost as if they were her lover in a tender moment.

Stepping back from the scene, the attacker nodded, and backed away a little more, before turning sharply and striding out of the alley, shoes ricocheting as they met the icy ground. Everything was ready.

The woman lay on her back, her head against the brick wall, staring sightlessly at the sky above her which slowly began to slide into dawn. The paper on her chest had only two words written on them, the black ink sharp against the bleach white paper and the paleness of her stiffening skin.

Two words in black with the blood of the woman dripping into the white. Red, black and white. Two words; a threat; a name.


	2. Pieces On The Ground

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song Fire and Rain by James Taylor, from his album Sweet Baby James.

"What exactly did the note say?" Castle asked as he followed Beckett across the sidewalk that ran along the side of the large fields of Rockaway Community Park.

"It was a name," Beckett replied simply. "And who we need to talk to." They came to a police officer who was in front of yellow crime tape, and she flashed her badge before the man raised it for them. "A Rose McDouglas."

"The name sounds familiar," Castle said. "Is she a suspect?"

"I'll see once we find her," Beckett said. She paused then when she looked ahead of them and glanced at Castle as he stopped next to her. "She's a National Transportation Safety Board investigator."

"That would explain this," he said in a somber tone of voice as his eyes scanned the park where there was a passenger jet broken in multiple sections in front of them.

"Can I help you?" a young man wearing a navy jacket with the NTSB letters in yellow on the sleeves said, walking up to them. "This is a restricted area, we're conducting an investigation."

"I'm looking for Investigator Rose McDouglas," Beckett said simply, showing him her badge.

"She'll be down there in the wreckage Detective," the man said quickly.

Castle was quiet for a moment as they continued on to the plane, and then said, "Have they identified the woman?"

"No, she had no wallet or any kind of identification, but they have her prints. If that fails, I'm hoping that this investigator can tell us who she is," Beckett said grimly as they watched two firemen carrying a body bag between them. She was reminded of the crime scene she had walked through only a half hour before. A young woman in an alley, her throat slit with some kind of metal that was triangular in shape and was painted in a bright blue. There was little to go on from the crime scene itself; they had no idea who their vic was, only the time of death, likely before dawn that morning.

"We couldn't have just asked someone to find her for us," Castle said as they neared the crash site and he could see the wreckage scattered and flags planted in the ground. The smell of fuel and blood was unmistakable, and his stomach churned at the scent of death that came from the crippled plane.

"I'd rather get her myself, make sure she doesn't bolt if she is the killer," Beckett said, covering her nose for a moment with her gloved hand. They were nearing a young woman who was wearing another NTSB jacket, and she called out, "Investigator McDouglas?"

The woman turned around and when she saw Beckett's badge said, "She's down by the empennage." When the two looked at her a little blankly she quickly amended, "The tail section on the other side."

Walking over the grass to the other side of the tail section which was further back than the other two sections of the plane, Castle commented, "Do you think she'll talk to you when she has this to look at?"

"She's going to need to," Beckett said before she stopped suddenly when they came up to a man who was standing behind a woman. "Excuse me, I'm Detective Beckett with the NYPD."

"We've cleared things with the FBI," the man said, turning to them. "Why are you here?"

"We're looking for Rose McDouglas, is she here?" Castle then said before his fiancée shot him a glance.

"She's here," the man said, after looking confused for a moment and then gesturing to the woman in front of him who was standing still. "But can you give her a second; we're trying to find the black boxes."

Looking at the woman; who she assumed was the investigator she was looking for; Beckett said, "I don't think we have the time-"

"Peter! I've got them!" the woman suddenly called before she took off at a run.

Without a look to them, the man started after the woman, and Beckett and Castle joined them, just on the off chance that the investigator was trying to get away. When she reached a certain point, Rose McDouglas stopped, and picked up a piece of bright blue and yellow metal, revealing a long, slightly dented, orange box.

"The FDR?" the man asked then as the woman turned slightly.

"Here," she said quickly, picking up a few pieces and then revealing a second box. "Alright, we need these in DC now! Get them out and on the way," she yelled to a few other investigators who'd run after them. "She came down rough Peter," she told her partner. "As far as those flew, look at the path from the empennage this debris took."

"Investigator McDouglas," Beckett said, seeing her chance to finally get the woman's attention. But she was still talking to her colleague, and Beckett repeated her name a little louder. Still no reaction, and she looked at Castle, who shrugged slightly at her. Finally, a little irked, she said loudly, "Rose McDouglas."

"Oh, Skye," the man said, having heard Beckett. He nudged the woman and said, "They wanted to talk to you."

"Wait, who the hell let civilians… here," Rose McDouglas said as she stepped towards Beckett and Castle. She trailed off when Beckett showed her badge and then said, "I apologize, but we have no need of the NYPD."

A little startled that her hearing had been correct and the woman seemed to have an unexpected British accent, Beckett said, "I'm Detective Kate Beckett, this is Richard Castle, we're here to talk to you about a murder."

"Murder? In LA? Are my wife and daughters-" McDouglas asked in fear as she was shaking Beckett's hand after removing her gloves.

"No, here in the city," Castle said. "We don't know who the victim is though, we were hoping you did," he continued as Beckett was holding out a picture of the woman from above her slit neck.

* * *

"Her name is Lenora Jenkins," McDouglas said as Castle handed her a cup of water, sitting on the couch in the room at the Precinct. "Thank you. I can't imagine what on earth she was doing here in NYC, she's from Denver, and tends to stay on that side of the country."

"How do you know her?" Beckett asked.

"She was a survivor in the first investigation I had as the IIC… Investigator in Charge," McDouglas said with a slight sigh. "When was she killed?"

"This morning, around five," Beckett said.

"Oh god, is that why you brought me here? Am I a suspect?" McDouglas asked looking a little panicked.

"No, when we looked into who you were, we were told you were just landing at JFK to take part in the investigation at the park," Beckett said.

"Why exactly are you here anyways? Aren't you part of NTSB West?" Castle then asked.

"I am, but I was called in as a special favor from the lead investigator, Peter King, you met him… to a certain extent," McDouglas said. "How did you find out about me?"

Beckett didn't reply to that, instead she took a picture from the stack that were from the crime scene, and handed it to the woman.

Closing her eyes tightly, McDouglas said, "I'm glad my alibi is as solid as it is. What does this mean exactly?" pointing to the note with her name in large letters left on the victim's body.

"Mostly likely a threat," Beckett said. "Do you know anyone who would want to harm you, or use her to get to you?"

"I know people who have been angry with the results of a few of my investigations," McDouglas replied slowly. "But to kill me? I haven't a clue honestly."

"What about someone outside of your job?" Castle asked.

Smiling for a moment, McDouglas said, "I would have mentioned that, but my social acquaintances mainly center around my work besides my wife and our children." She took a deep breath and said, "It could be at some point in my past I may have made an enemy, but to this degree… I don't recall."

"I'm wondering," Beckett said a little hesitantly. "Was Ms.-"

"Mrs." McDouglas said quickly. "She was married; she and her husband have two sons."

"Oh, well, I'm wondering was she a past girlfriend?" Beckett asked.

"I'll refer you to my previous statement, my social life was never very active, and I'm including my love life in there as well," McDouglas said. "Lenora wasn't my kind of woman, she preferred men. We were friends; we exchanged e-mails every so often. You don't think that someone is using my name as a diversion? That they were out to kill her?"

"It doesn't appear to be that way, but it's one angle of the case we're taking a look at as well," Beckett said. "When was the last time you heard from her?"

"About three months ago, I was busy with an investigation, and got in touch with her again," McDouglas said. She then seemed to grow a little sad, and said softly, "She always understood that I was busy."

"What time did the plane crash you were investigating occur?" Castle suddenly asked as they all grew silent.

"One in the morning," McDouglas said. "An hour later Peter called me that I was with his go team, unofficial co-IIC, and I was on my way to LAX from my home." A look of realization appeared on her face then and she said, "You think the killer brought her here because they knew I was going to be here."

"It's a theory," Beckett said, not too surprised she had picked up on that. "The flight from Denver to here is only about four hours isn't it?"

"It depends on the size of the aircraft and engines, but thereabouts," McDouglas said before shuddering. "That's a horrid thought; that we were racing for the East Coast, but for far different reasons." She sighed and then said, "Are there anymore questions you have for me? I really should be getting back to my investigation while it's still early on."

"That's all for now," Beckett said, standing up. "But I may have more to ask at a later time."

"Then let me just give you my card," McDouglas said simply, reaching into the bag she'd brought with her.

"Since we're looking at this as a threat to you," Beckett told the woman as she and Castle led her to the elevator, taking her business card. "It would be in your best interest to be careful, pay attention to everyone around you at all times and to call me if necessary," she said as she handed McDouglas her card.

"Thank you, I will, and I always keep up with my situational awareness," McDouglas said absently as they stopped. "If you need any help in contacting Lenora's family, I can offer some phone numbers."

"I think we'll be alright," Beckett said, pressing the button for her. "Would you mind if I had two officers escort you back to the park, or wherever you need to go?"

"No, that's fine," McDouglas said simply. "I hope you find this killer, whoever it is."

"Hopefully you can figure out what happened with the plane," Castle said.

"What I'm hoping as well," McDouglas said, turning as the doors to the elevator opened. She was about to step inside the car when a tall, middle aged man walked out, Peter King and a bodyguard behind him. "Senator Pittman?" she asked in shock.

"Skye, a relief to see you're alright," the man said, shaking her hand.

"What are you doing here Senator?" McDouglas said, still looking flabbergasted.

"Are you Detective Beckett?" the Senator asked, not answering her question.

"I am," Beckett replied. "Is there something I can help you with?"

"I need to speak with your Captain, urgently. It's about you Skye," Pittman said.

"This way," Beckett said, turning and leading them down the hall, seeing that Ryan and Esposito; at their desks; were peering over at the group they made, as did a few officers.

"Captain?" Pittman said, walking into the room after his bodyguard had knocked on the door for him.

"Senator, I just received a call from the mayor to expect you," Gates said as she motioned to the chairs in front of her desk.

"I'll stand, this isn't going to take very long," Pittman said, shaking her hand. "I'm sure you're wondering why I'm here."

"I am," McDouglas said, glancing at her co-worker who merely shrugged. "I can't imagine what the Senator from the great state of Nevada needs in NYC with me."

"Fair enough, I'll cut to the point," Pittman said, nodding at her. "Captain, I'm not sure if you're aware of Skye…. Ms. McDouglas, but she is arguably the best investigator to come out of the NTSB. The office in DC, myself and also the President are viewing this murder and the note with her name on it as a threat to her and we're all taking it very seriously."

"How are you aware of the note? That information wasn't released to the public," Beckett said.

"The FBI," Pittman said.

"Are they taking over the investigation?" McDouglas asked as the Senator looked at her.

"No, but that brings me to my point. We're concerned about this… killer and what exactly it means for Ms. McDouglas, we want her protected," Pittman continued.

"Jacob, I'm not a chi-" McDouglas said, standing up straight.

"We need you to be here to continue your work Skye," the Senator said firmly. "It's not just me saying that."

"Alright, so if the FBI isn't taking over their investigation," McDouglas said with a sigh, gesturing to Beckett and Castle. "And you want me protected, you'll what, assign me a bodyguard?"

"Not exactly," Pittman said, handing over a letter to Gates.

"Detective, I believe you have your orders," the Captain then said after she'd read the letter, handing it to her.

Taking it, Beckett quickly scanned the letter, and a brief look of shock appeared on her face before she read it again. "Yes sir, it looks like I do," she said simply as she folded the letter and put it back in its envelope.

"What orders?" McDouglas asked suspiciously.

"The President wants me to protect you as part of my investigation," Beckett said.

"What? Jacob, I have an investigation myself," McDouglas said in shock. "He has to know that."

"I spoke with him myself," Peter King said then, getting everyone's attention. "And he asked if you were needed at the crash site and when I said no, he then asked if we couldn't make a compromise."

"But they need to investigate…" McDouglas began slowly. She sighed and said, "I'm under your protection then Detective. I just hope you'll allow me to investigate still."

"As long as you'll allow me to do so with my case," Beckett said. "For the time being, my colleagues and I will need to start looking into what evidence we have and that is best done here in the station. Is it possible for you to stay here?"

"Is there some place, a room, or anything I can use to work myself?" McDouglas said. When Beckett; after looking at Gates who nodded; nodded to her, she then said, "Very well, I'll be fine."

"Great, Skye, I beg you, let her watch out for you, and don't do anything rash like you've done before," Pittman then said, stepping over to the NTSB agent and taking her hand.

"I'll try to be the least hindrance to her and the others as possible," McDouglas said with a nod. "If you speak to the President, thank him for his concern."

"I will, I'll speak with you later, about the case," Pittman said, shaking her hand. "Detective," he then said to Beckett. Once he'd shaken her hand and Castle's, he left with his bodyguard, pulling his phone out of his pocket.

"Keep me apprised of your investigation," Gates directed to Beckett then. "Investigator McDouglas, if there is anything you need for your own investigation, then do not hesitate to ask. If you need to leave the Precinct, you'll be doing so under guard. Wherever it is you're staying, you will have an officer standing guard outside your room. We will follow the President's orders to the letter."

"I have no doubt you will Captain," McDouglas said. "At the moment, I just need to speak with my colleague and then I will be out of the way of your detective's investigation."

"This way," Beckett said. She walked out of the office with Castle, and to the conference room which was free for use.

"Okay, since it seems we'll be talking more than just an initial interview," McDouglas said once they were all inside, Peter standing in the doorway watching. "I'd far prefer it if you could call me Skye."

"Isn't that a little too familiar?" Castle asked.

"She hates being called Investigator, or Rose, or McDouglas for that matter," Peter said, stepping fully into the room. "You saw she barely responded to you calling her all three."

"You don't need to, I'm not demanding it, but I'd prefer it," McDouglas said, looking to Beckett.

"That's fine; will you be alright working from here?" Beckett replied quickly.

"Perfectly, thank you Detective-" McDouglas began.

"Beckett is fine," she said, cutting off the woman quickly.

"Of course, you wouldn't happen to have a white board I could use? I may need it," Skye said, looking at Peter.

"I'll have an officer bring one in," Beckett said. "If you need anything please let me know, and there are drinks, food over there."

"I am sorry if I'm imposing by being your assignment while you're trying to investigate Lenora's murder," Skye said.

"It's not a problem," Beckett said evenly.

"She's not kidding," Castle said. "But what about you?"

"I can work off field, as long as I have all the evidence we've gotten so far," Skye said, turning to Peter.

"I'll see about that board," Beckett said before she motioned quickly with her hand to Castle. As they left the room she stopped Officer Thomas and asked him to try and find a white board, and to take it to the NTSB investigator.

"Hey," Esposito said as Beckett was walking to her desk. "We heard you got a letter from the President?"

Beckett handed the letter to him without another word, sitting down as the three men read it. As she was beginning to call Perlmutter she heard Ryan's whistle and looked up at him.

"That's pretty impressive," Ryan said. "The President asked you personally to take on a protection assignment."

"Think I might save this as a souvenir of the case?" Castle asked.

"It's got her name on it," Ryan pointed out.

"There is white out…" Castle began.

"I'd prefer you don't go near my name Castle," Beckett said, taking the letter and envelope from him and putting them into her bag.

"Is she a VIP?" Esposito asked as they looked over at Skye as she returned from escorting her colleague to the elevator.

"Pretty much," Beckett said absently before she finished dialing on her phone.

"The Senator made it seem like she was," Castle told them. "Which would make sense; she did save them one time while they were on a flight."

"What are you talking about?" Beckett asked, hanging up the phone.

"I remembered why that name was so familiar," Castle said, sitting down in his chair. "She was featured in _Time_ ; they did an article about her after she solved an investigation into a crash… I don't remember the particulars, but what I do recall is there was one they mentioned about eight years ago. Turns out she was on a flight back to LA and the plane experienced some kind of mechanical trouble, and she was able to help the crew land in Las Vegas without any problems. Senator Pittman and the President, before he began to run for office, was on the flight too."

"Great story," Beckett said. "Guys, have you found anything on our vic?"

"Not much," Ryan said. "I contacted her husband; he said she was in NYC because she'd heard something had happened with someone, he didn't know who though. He was a little disturbed because it was pretty much the middle of the night and they have kids. But she just said that she felt her friend would need her."

"That would be the killer," Beckett said. "Financials?"

"No record of any money that would equal the amount of a ticket," Esposito said. "Nothing unusual, I contacted the Denver PD, and asked them to talk to her friends, see if she was acting at all unusual in the past few days and to get a hold of me once they had anything."

"Alright, for now we'll need to focus on her," Beckett said, nodding towards Skye who was sitting at the table in front of a laptop. "Look up anything in her past that might draw a flag for this kind of murder."

"Perlmutter have anything?" Castle asked once they were alone.

"Not really," Beckett said. "They can't really ID what the murder weapon was though; just metal that was painted and sharp enough to cut her throat."

"So we've got next to nothing," Castle said.

"Not really, it depends on what we find out about her," Beckett said. "What was in that article?"

"I read it about six months ago, I can't tell you the details," Castle said. "Besides that crash, it mentioned her father was a pilot for British Airways, but lived in LA. She works for NTSB West, their branch in LA that takes the cases west of the Mississippi and I think Asia. She's been with the NTSB for about twelve years, and she's about the same age as you. Otherwise… it's all I can remember."

Nodding Beckett said, "Nothing that sticks out in your mind for our case?" When Castle shook his head she said, "I'll go ahead and look into her myself."

"Beckett!" Ryan called suddenly from his desk. "I just got a call from our vic's mother; her husband's on the way here to talk to us. He wants to take his wife home and decided to talk to you face to face."

"When does he arrive?" Beckett asked, looking at her watch.

"His flight left fifteen minutes ago," Ryan said. "So about four hours from now… two."

"Thanks," Beckett called back to him. She turned to her computer, and typed in the name Rose McDouglas before hitting enter.

"Isn't that usually what one of the boys does?" Castle asked.

"I have nothing to honestly do at the moment, and I don't want to hover around her, like I can tell you're itching to do," Beckett said wryly.

"Not hover, it's just…" Castle began defensively. He then said, "It doesn't interest you at all? What she's investigating?"

"There were fatalities Castle," Beckett said, looking over from her screen.

"I know and it's horrible to think about. I'm just saying that finding out what happened to the plane, what caused it; you don't find that fascinating?" Castle asked.

"Is it the investigation or her you find fascinating?" Beckett asked. "Is the magic gone?" she said, gesturing to them.

"No," Castle said firmly. "And it's the investigation I find fascinating."

Beckett nodded absently, and turned back to her screen where there was a picture of the investigator from the DMV. The one thing that drew her attention were Skye's eyes as they were differently colored, one hazel brown and the other green. She then looked at a picture of Skye's father that for some reason was attached to the file on the woman, and saw that she wore her father's wings from when he'd been a pilot as a pendant and the pilot and his daughter had the same eyes. She then looked at the information, and read that Skye's mother had died giving birth to her, her father raising her until she was six. "Oh god," she said suddenly as she read the next paragraph.

"I forgot, they mentioned the crash," Castle said, having been reading with her over her shoulder.

"Six years old and she lost her father in a plane crash in Kansas," Beckett said. "One of two survivors on a Britannia Airlines 747."

"You have to admire her still going anywhere near any type of aircraft," Castle commented. "Probably what drove her to become an NTSB investigator."

Beckett didn't reply to that, knowing already that he was going to mention it; since it was very similar to herself. She glanced at Skye again before reading the rest of the information on the woman. "Nothing really here that will point to someone who's so angry at her he's willing to put someone she talks to via e-mail on a plane and slit her throat in an alley," she said once she had finished.

"You don't think it could be a rejected lover?" Castle suggested. "Or maybe the wife? Maybe she's out in the field investigating so often that her wife is tired of waiting for her to stay home to be with their kids. So she kidnaps this woman, thinking the e-mail exchanges are more than between just friends, and kills her. She had to know Skye was being called to investigate." He paused then, but when Beckett merely wrote down a few things on a piece of paper he said, "No?"

"Espo," Beckett said. When he turned to her she said, "Look into the wife, but it's likely a dead end."

"What wife?" Esposito asked.

"Hers," Beckett said, nodding to the room.

Esposito was about to speak, and then leaned over as to look at the investigator. "On it," he finally said when he seemed to have recovered from his surprise.

"Thank you," Castle said when she had turned to him. "But you honestly don't think it's a possibility?"

"I have to look into it," Beckett said simply. "But I'm not getting the feeling it's her."

"Strange, usually you don't hesitate," Castle said.

"Call it a hunch," Beckett shrugged nonchalantly. She then said, "But you have a point with her wife possibly being tired of her job. As much as I'm sure she travels, it could be a strain on their relationship. I might give Peter King a call."

"Think he'd know?" Castle asked.

"Him, or who's listed as one of Skye's emergency contacts, a Liam Hayden," Beckett said.

"Right, would you like some coffee?" Castle asked, sensing she wanted to speak to the man in privacy.

Nodding as she was already dialing the number on the screen, Beckett waited patiently while the phone rang. An older man answered on the other end finally, and she said, "Hello, this is Detective Beckett from the NYPD I'm looking for Liam Hayden."

Castle was finishing up a cup of coffee when Skye walked in, and he quickly asked, "Everything okay?"

"Yes, I'm just wondering if I might be able to make a cup of tea," she replied.

"Sure, right here," Castle said, motioning to the bags of tea next to the coffee machine.

"That's alright, I have my own Earl Grey already, I just needed a cup and water," Skye said before she busied herself next to him.

"So how's your investigation going," Castle asked, trying to be nonchalant as he spoke.

Smiling at her mug briefly, Skye then said, "At this point I'm just looking at the photographs I've gotten from the crash site. So I'm afraid I can't tell you more than that."

"Would you be able to tell anyone about a break in the case if they weren't part of the NTSB?" Castle asked.

"Not really, but you and your partner will likely be involved in this," Skye said. "As a warning you may want to tell her," she said as she pointed to Beckett who was still on the phone. "I'll likely need to head to JFK as our investigation goes on, even though I'm not the official IIC."

"Oh, sure," Castle said, trying not to sound too interested at the thought.

"If you're inclined to, you can ask me inside that room if I've found out anything new," Skye said then as she left. "Thank you for the tea."

"But I didn't make… it," Castle said, trailing off as she was out of earshot by then. He wondered how she'd been able to tell his interest in her investigation, and guessed it was most likely because she was especially observant. He finished up the two cups of coffee before he walked out, seeing that Skye was suddenly running for the conference room, almost spilling her tea.

"What happened?" Beckett asked, hanging up the phone as Castle reached her.

"I don't know, but she said to warn you that we might have to go to JFK for her case," he said, handing her a cup.

"Thanks, that's fine, I just hope this isn't going to interfere with my case," Beckett commented before she took a sip. "Okay, so according to Mr. Hayden, the marriage is pretty solid, Skye and her wife are even talking about having their own child or adopting a third. Plus it turns out he had to go and watch their two daughters last night, as Skye's wife was celebrating a birthday with some friends; Skye had watched the kids. And I checked with one of those friends, there were ten of them at Spago in Beverly Hills and they were there until one. At about the time Skye says she got the call about the crash the friend said Skye's wife, whose name is Mary, took a phone call from her and told them her wife was going to NYC for a case and she went to LAX to say goodbye to her before going back to the restaurant. Which was a surprise as it's well known that Skye is not a fan of the East Coast."

"So I might have been wrong," Castle said with a shrug as Beckett took a file from an aide and put up a picture of Skye and then wrote some information under it on the murder board. "I wonder if the killer was waiting for something like this to come up though."

"Using this crash as an excuse," Becket said. When he nodded she frowned slightly and said, "Then it's possible our killer is more comfortable here, and since she doesn't normally come out here apparently, he was planning this for a long time."

"You think it might have to deal with her job," Castle stated.

"I do, even though she doesn't seem to think so," Beckett said. "I'll have to ask her about that later, it looks like she's busy."

Castle looked over at Skye, seeing the woman had a pair of headphones on, and was staring at the screen of her laptop intently. "She said I could ask her about her investigation," he said.

"Have fun with that," Beckett said absently as she wrote down the time that Skye had received the call about the crash and the time their vic had left her home. "Something bothers me about the vic. She had two kids, and she just left in the middle of the night," she said, looking at a photo of the victim in the alley. "She was threatened."

"Or worse, her kids or husband were threatened if she didn't do what the killer wanted. Or both," Castle said.

"Beckett," Ryan said, walking up to them then. "Checked out our vic's past, and up until the crash she was in about eight years ago, nothing flagged my interest."

"And the crash?" Beckett asked, taking the file that he was holding.

"Apparently it was in Idaho, a flight was heading to Vancouver, and crashed. She was the Investigator in Charge," Ryan said, nodding to Skye.

"And?" Beckett said when he didn't continue.

"That's all I could find," Ryan said. "Nothing else that connects them to each other if that's what you're trying to figure out."

"I'll have to ask her husband," Beckett said simply. "Alright, try and see if the stores or office buildings in a five block radius have any kind of security cameras that were filming last night around the time of death."

When Ryan had left Castle said, "Are we hitting a brick wall already?"

"No," Beckett said simply before she walked over to the doorway where Skye was on the phone then. She knocked on the doorway and when the woman nodded, stepped inside and sat across the table, waiting for her to finish her phone call.

"Sorry, I was talking to Peter, we just got the ATC recording," Skye said once she had hung up. "Anything?"

"Not really, we were looking into you a little, to try and see if anyone close to you could have been a possible suspect," Beckett said as Castle sat next to her.

"My wife I would guess," Skye said. When Beckett nodded she said, "Mary called me, apparently my dad was talking to you while she was in the same room as him. She was a little insulted, but she understood why you did that. I assume she's cleared?"

"She is," Beckett said. "I wanted to ask you though about your connection with the victim, this time how it came about."

"The accident that Lenora was in was a fairly simple one to solve," Skye said simply, leaning back a little in her chair. "CFIT, but we ruled it was caused by pilot error in the end. He lost situational awareness at about ten at night, with very little lights, and ended up on a mountain. It was amazing that any passengers survived."

"So it crashed into the side of the mountain is what you're saying," Castle said before Beckett could speak.

"Controlled flight into terrain, and the co-pilot had just returned from a restroom break and had little time to help the pilot recover," Skye said. "It's why there were survivors. So I helped interview a few people though with it being my first case as the IIC, it wasn't necessary, but I was green, and eager to prove myself and the reliability of NTSB West. Lenora was the first person I spoke to out of the ten I talked to. She was terrified after what happened, but I talked to her, and once the case was solved I talked to her again to try and make sure she wouldn't be afraid of planes after what she went through. And we just became friends, albeit online, we were still friends."

"Who knew about this relationship you had?" Beckett asked.

"The rest of the go team," Skye said. "Her family and mine. But I really don't know anyone out of all those people who'd kill her to get to me."

"I'm afraid I'll still have to look into them," Beckett said.

"Very well," Skye said with a sigh. "Since you can find out about her family, I'll give you a list of names of my colleagues for that case." She grabbed a piece of paper and wrote down a list of names before handing it to Beckett. "How's her husband?"

"I'm not sure, he's on his way," Beckett said simply.

"You don't suspect him do you?" Skye asked.

"At the moment, no, but we'll be checking to make sure," Beckett said. "In the meantime," she said standing up. She wasn't surprised when Castle looked over at her and did a quick double take when he realized she'd stood, getting up as well. "I'll leave you to your work." As she and Castle were walking back to her desk she told him, "I'll be talking to him alone."

"Sure, does that mean I can talk to her?" Castle asked.

"She doesn't know you though, she might try and kick you out," Beckett said wryly. "She is technically a Federal investigator remember."

"I could charm her," Castle said jokingly.

"I don't think she'd go for that," Beckett said, looking at him for a moment.

Giving her a shrug, Castle followed her to her desk, and read the file on their vic over her shoulder. After a while he said in a low tone, "I enjoy working this kind of case better."

"As you should," Beckett said absently, flipping the page to the next.

Castle was a little surprised at that, but then saw she was touching her aquamarine pendant, and he fought back a smile; the gesture one very familiar since she wasn't able to wear her ring too often. He shook himself then, and turned his attention back to the file with her.

* * *

"You can come inside," Skye said, looking up at Castle as he hovered a little outside the doorway. "I could use a bit of a break, so I actually might head for another cuppa."

"Cup… oh, cup of tea," Castle said as he walked inside. "Here," he said, handing her a mug.

"I'm pretty sure I let you know you could come here," Skye said. "Have a seat if you still want to watch me work as I'm guessing that's what you'd like to do."

"If you don't mind," Castle said simply though his eyes were drawn to the white board.

"Or take a look that, go ahead," Skye said, smiling slightly as she shook her head when he went straight to the board. "Thank you for the tea," she said as she took a sip and joined him in front of the board. "Detective Beckett?" she suddenly asked.

"She's talking to the vic's husband," Castle said. "Do you know him at all?"

"Not really, and he wouldn't kill his wife to get to me, we don't know each other," Skye replied. "We've never really gotten to know each other and have only heard about the other through Lenora. But she always said that Tom was a nice guy, great father."

"He's not exactly a suspect, but I know Beckett will be trying to get his alibi while she's interviewing him," Castle said.

"So you thought since she's preoccupied with that, you'd come around here?" Skye said, slight laughter in her voice.

"Pretty much," Castle said simply.

"You're not planning on writing about an NTSB investigator?" Skye asked.

"So you know who I am," Castle said, turning to her.

"Of course I do," Skye said simply. "My wife has all your books, which I have read at her insistence. Well… your first book she almost made me read. It's not you," she said hurriedly to Castle's look. "It's the genre; I tend towards historical fiction when I've the time to read. But I made an exception for you and Michael Connelly since he writes about home in some books. Excuse me."

"To answer your question," Castle said, turning from the crash scene photos. "I'm pretty happy with Nikki Heat, so I'll stick with her."

"Of course," Skye murmured, looking as if she was smiling indulgently at him.

"Do you want me to go?" Castle asked as she was putting on her headphones.

"Whatever you'd like to do," Skye shrugged. "I'm going through the ATC recordings for last night; I'm not trying to get you out of the room."

Castle nodded, and turned back to the board for a while before he heard a sudden expletive. Looking at the investigator he winced as she threw her headphones on the table with a loud bang and asked, "Something wrong?"

"Yeah, you can say that," Skye said. She stalked over to the board, and wrote hurriedly, _starboard engine failure?_ She slammed down the pen and stepped back shaking her head.

"Can a plane that model fly on one engine?" Castle asked.

"A 737, yes it can, it's supposed to until it makes the necessary emergency landing," Skye said swiftly. "So this is more than just a single engine failing." She started to pace back and forth next to Castle before she suddenly stopped and said, looking at him, "I think I could use your help."


	3. Wherever You Are

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song You Are Here by John Lennon, from his album Mind Games.

As she stepped inside the conference room, looking for Castle, Beckett was a little surprised to see that he was sitting at the table, looking up at the NTSB investigator expectantly before the woman got off her phone and called out a number. She watched as he wrote it down on a piece of paper, and then seemed to wait again.

"Sorry about commandeering your partner," Skye said, looking over at the doorway and noticing Beckett standing there. "I needed these numbers down as quickly as possible and he was around so…"

"That's alright, he wasn't doing anything else I'm sure," Beckett said.

"Did you finish with the vic's husband?" Castle asked as Skye got back onto her phone.

"I did, is she finished?" Beckett asked. She wasn't surprised when Skye shook her head no; then began to speak with whoever was on the other end. "He's given an alibi, but I'll wait to tell you more once she's finished with you."

After telling Castle another number, Skye grabbed the paper and went to the whiteboard and began to write a large number on the side of a graph she'd drawn. She then sat down at the table and proceeded to write on another piece of paper with a pen, referencing the one Castle had been using.

"They're weights," he told Beckett as they watched the woman writing furiously. "Of the passengers and of the luggage, the crew too."

"Thank you for your help," Skye said, suddenly looking up at them at his words. "If you need to leave, you can go ahead."

Castle started to speak but Beckett beat him to it, and he looked at his fiancée in surprise when she said, "I think our cases are mixed in a way, if there's nothing against NTSB policy for us to hear about your investigation, then I'd like to speak to Castle here."

"And NYPD policy about me hearing things concerning your investigation?" Skye asked, sitting up a little.

"I'm pretty sure you'll be sufficiently discreet about anything you hear," Beckett replied, recognizing the slight challenge in the woman's question.

"Alright, and I know you will be," Skye said. "I'm hoping you will be as well," she then directed to Castle.

"Sure, of course," he said with a shrug.

"Then stay, leave, I leave that up to you Detective… Beckett, sorry," Skye said, looking up as she corrected herself.

When the investigator was looking down at her piece of paper, Beckett turned to Castle and said, "Tom Jenkins was there with his wife when she was called at about two in the morning, they were in bed. He heard a male's voice, but had no idea who it was, couldn't make out anything other than the gender."

"And once she hung up?" Castle asked.

"Pretty much what he told Ryan, she was freaking out that someone was in trouble, and she got dressed in a rush and left the house in a rush," Beckett said. "She said goodbye to her sons, and left in her car for the airport. He said he stayed home the rest of the time; he called his wife periodically to try and check on her. Espo is contacting Denver PD for them to start tracing his phone and take a look at her car at the airport, and to check who called her before she left. Her husband even tried to start a missing person's report at about five this morning his time. But by then-"

"She'd been found," Castle finished. "So it's not him, what about others who knew her? What about a jealous lover like we were posing for…" he began before trailing off and looking over to see Skye was watching them.

"That was you," Beckett said, bringing his attention back to her. "And her husband gave us a couple names of her exes, but one of them is in the Army in Afghanistan at the moment, so he'll have a pretty clear alibi. But just in case, Ryan's looking into whoever he can find from her life."

"Which we already started to do," Castle said simply.

"We did, and we don't really have anything at this point," Beckett said before she looked over at Skye again at the sound of a chair being pushed back. She watched the investigator as she began to mark dots on the graph and then looked at the rest of the board, seeing pictures and a few things written next to them. "Is there anyone from this airline that has a grudge against you, that wants revenge?" she suddenly asked, walking up to her.

"Pacific Air? No, actually, I'm pretty friendly with the CEO and the other members of the board," Skye replied, taking a moment to make another mark on the graph before she turned to her. "I investigated an incident about five years ago, the front landing gear became stuck after takeoff in San Diego and I revealed it was a fault with the oil Boeing had suggested fliers of the 737 use for the landing gear extenders. Well, my team and I found that out. But I don't really know anyone that hates me. I was thinking, listening to you, it seems like you're wasting time looking at Lenora, since the killer brought them to where I'd be."

"We have to look at everything," Castle said, standing behind the two women. "Or they do, but you think it could be someone you know or from your job? You said earlier it probably wasn't."

"I know, but the way you're talking, it seems as if it might have to do with one of my cases in the past," Skye said with a sigh.

"How many have you done?" Beckett asked.

"As an IIC, I have no clue, I've never kept track of that," Skye said. "But as the Human Performance part of the go team, six cases."

"It took you only six to become the IIC?" Castle said in surprise. "Sounds like you'd have to have more experience to reach that level."

"And normally an investigator would. However… the board in charge of the NTSB at the time saw I would be far better in a broader role and it was decided that I should be a permanent IIC," Skye said. "Which I'm proud of, but it was a lot of pressure, especially because at the time not many were women as young as I was with that title."

Beckett had a strange feeling she was hearing herself talking about her own career listening to the woman. Shaking that away though, she said, "Is there any way to look into these cases, or are they classified?"

"No, they're available to the public," Skye said. "But it'll be quite a long list, and it'll take time to look through it."

"I don't think we have much choice in the matter, and anything we can get will be a help. Our board is looking a lot barer than yours," Beckett said, nodding to it.

Skye nodded absently, and then went back to her graph before she said, "If you'd like, I can put in a call to the NTSB, and get summaries for the files for my investigations. Is it imperative for you to have them?"

"It is," Beckett replied.

"Then I'll let them know, you should get them later on tonight," Skye said.

"Thanks," Beckett said before she started to leave. "You coming?" she asked Castle as she passed him but he stood in place.

"Um, sure," he replied, but looked back to the board, wondering what exactly it was for.

"You can come back," Skye said, looking over her shoulder at them. "The board isn't going anywhere."

Nodding, Castle then followed Beckett to the murder board and watched her write a few things under the pic of their victim from her interview. He was about to speak when Ryan walked over.

"Got the husband's phone tracked, and he didn't move a muscle last night from the time our vic was called by that man. He did go to work at six, and the area his phone is at corresponds with his office," Ryan told them.

"He was never really a viable suspect anyways," Beckett said with a nod. "And the call to her this morning?"

"Burner phone, that's all I was able to get," Ryan said, handing Beckett a file.

"Her friends and family are all pretty sure she's got no one who'd want to kill her," Esposito said, walking over. "They can't think of anyone, and the two ex boyfriends check out."

"Okay, then let's go ahead and start looking into Skye and her past," Beckett said. "We think this killer is comfortable here on this side of the country since he waited for her to get a case that would bring her over here."

"Which we've said means he was waiting for a while," Castle said. "At least… it has to do with her as an investigator," he said, looking at Beckett.

Seeming to get what he'd meant; though Ryan and Esposito looked a little confused; Beckett went over to the room where Skye was on the phone. She was about to ask something when she paused as she saw the expression on the woman's face. "I'm sorry," she said when Skye looked up at her as she hung up. "We need to know when was the last time you were here in the city."

"Um," Skye said, seeming to be shaken. "About eleven years ago, I think. No, it was eleven, that was one of my six cases as part of the go team."

"But nothing as a tourist?" Beckett asked. When Skye shook her head no she almost turned to go, but something made her hesitate. "Is anything wrong?"

"We had another fatality," Skye said. "Which brings the total up to six."

"I'm so sorry," Beckett said, able to tell from her tone that each one was being taken personally by the investigator.

"Thanks," Skye said simply with a nod to her. "I've called the home office in DC, they're preparing copies of each case file, they'll be here around five, six tonight."

Beckett nodded to that and left, not sure what else she could say to the woman, though she'd had plenty of experience talking with those that had lost loved ones or friends herself; the situation was entirely different and she decided to leave Skye alone as the woman seemed to desire. Walking back to the others she said simply, "Eleven years ago."

"That's a long time; she's never come here since then?" Ryan asked.

"I get the feeling she's more comfortable in California," Beckett said. "Since that time back then was as an investigator. So obviously the killer was waiting for something like this to happen. But what I don't get is how they would know that Skye would be here."

"Shouldn't we just talk in there with her?" Esposito asked as Beckett turned again to go to the room.

"Then just follow me," Beckett said hurriedly before she walked inside the room. "Sorry, we kind of need you for this discussion."

"What is it?" Skye asked.

"Was it publicized at all after the crash that you were being called in to investigate?" Beckett asked, sitting at the table.

"I'm not sure, that you'd need to ask Peter, he'd know if the home office gave that news to the media," Skye said, writing something on the graph.

"If he did though, would they publish it?" Ryan asked.

"Most likely, asking someone in from across the country is a rare occurrence. And it's something that brings attention to the crash as well, to the story," Skye replied, turning around fully then as the three men sat with Beckett. "I actually was going to call him right now, into the station."

"Go ahead," Beckett said before she turned to the others. "So if the killer's trying to get to her, he might have been constantly searching for her via the net."

"But he likely covered his tracks," Castle pointed out. "I'm going to assume he'll want to stay hidden until he can get to her," he said as he lowered his voice.

"We need to get all the information we can on her," Beckett told Ryan and Esposito. "Everything about her from the time she was born, to yesterday when she took the flight to JFK. Anything and everything you can find."

"And us?" Castle asked as the two left then.

"The same," Beckett said. "But I need to ask her a question first."

"Go ahead," Skye said, looking at the board before she turned to them. "Sorry for overhearing, but I was off the phone. What is it you'd like to inquire?"

"Were there ever any men that might have tried to… hit on you," Beckett said, hesitating before deciding to just word the question like that. "And you've turned down that have gotten aggressive?"

"One," Skye replied, frowning. "His name is Rodrigo Luis, and he is actually a Special Agent with the FBI. In case you're wondering, he's partially the reason they're not taking over the investigation; along with your skills as a detective."

"Anything serious occur between you and him?" Castle asked.

"Harassment, mostly verbal, he would constantly try to flirt with me," Skye said shortly, sounding angry. "Mind you, I was married by then, so this happened recently. But yeah, I was married, happily, he knew that already but," she said, motioning with her hand. "He wouldn't stop, so much so I decided for my safety and Mary's to get a restraining order. It nearly cost him his job."

Looking at Castle, Beckett said, "Thank you for the information, excuse me."

Going after his fiancée as she strode out to her desk, Castle sat and watched as she quickly made a phone call to the FBI. While she was talking, he was on his phone, starting to search for the agent. He got a hit, and brought up the website, surprised to see where the man's field office was.

"Okay, he's an agent here, but at the moment he's in Portugal," Beckett said.

"Portugal? Work or vacation?" Castle asked.

"Work, he and his partner arrested someone with the help of the Lisbon police today, about twenty minutes ago, they're going to head out as soon as the weather clears up since their flight back was canceled today," Beckett said.

"When did he leave for Europe?" Castle asked.

"I'm glad you asked, it was actually early, at six in the morning," Beckett replied.

"That gives him enough time to kill our vic and get to the airport but, it's close," Castle said.

"I know, but he's our best lead so far," Beckett said.

"And as an FBI agent, he'd be able to find out about her coming here to NYC," Castle said. He was quiet for a moment and then said, "She didn't seem to warm to the idea when we asked about him."

"I think she's concentrating on her case," Beckett said simply. "So Agent Luis tries to hit on Skye when they're investigating the accident-"

"Or incident," Castle interrupted. When Beckett looked at him he said quickly, "It's when it only affects the safety of operations… Anyways," he finished in a rush at her expression.

"So he gets turned down, and with that restraining order, almost gets fired," Beckett continued.

"And he blames her for it instead of himself," Castle said. "So he decided to hit her where it hurts. But wouldn't he have gone after her wife? It would have affected her a lot more. Though-"

"It's harder to get to Mary McDouglas because she knew about him already," Beckett said.

"And Lenora Jenkins wouldn't have any idea who he was," Castle said, nodding. "So he goes after someone from her very first case in charge, an important moment especially for her since she was so young and also a female IIC."

"He could easily track her, and also as an FBI agent, he could convince her to go with him," Beckett said. "So her family might not have been threatened, though if he's that determined to kill her he could have used that in some way." She was quiet and then said, "There's going to be more murders."

"But he's out of the country," Castle said.

"Unless he has an accomplice," Beckett said, leaning back. "If we get another body, we're going to need to consider that and-"

Before she could finish that, the doors to the elevator opened and Peter King burst through them, running down the hall as fast as he could, getting everyone's attention.

"Peter! The bloody hell are you doing," Skye said, coming to the doorway at the sound of his running. "I never said what I had was urgent."

"I know, but I have something," Peter said, panting heavily as Beckett, Castle and Ryan went to the doorway after him. "About our case," he told the others behind him. "But I think you need to go first," he said, almost collapsing in a chair.

"I've listened to the ATC recording, and managed to get a hint at what might have been wrong," Skye said, glancing at the three in the doorway. She walked over to her laptop, and pressed play on the media player she had ready.

" _JFK Tower, this is Pac Air 871, we are declaring an emergency and are in need of an immediate landing at runway 22L._ "

" _Pac Air 871, this is JFK, state that again?_ "

" _JFK, this is Pac Air 871, we are declaring an emergency._ "

" _Roger Pac Air, state the nature of your emergency and maintain your current heading and flight level._ "

" _JFK, we have had an oil leak warning in engine one, and we have shut it down._ "

" _Pac Air, you are at 3200 feet, can you confirm?_ "

" _Roger JFK, 3200 feet, we are beginning to prepare for an emergency landing as soon as we have clearance._ "

"So engine failure, that makes no sense though," Peter said as Skye stopped the recording.

"That's never happened before?" Castle asked, having stepped further into the room with Beckett and Ryan. He jumped a little as Beckett nudged him in the side for interfering, and he glanced at her slightly apologetically before looking back at the NTSB investigators.

"It has, but not like this; that one had to deal with the fan disc," Skye said. "But that's not why I called you in Peter. I could have easily told you that. What I need you to look at, if you're up to it, is this," she said, pointing to the graph on the board.

Standing up, Peter walked to the graph and after studying it for a minute looked at Skye closely.  
"From the recording," Skye said. "The co-pilot was calling out their altitude as ATC requested."

"That makes absolutely no sense," Peter said.

"What happened?" Castle couldn't help asking, waiting for Beckett to nudge him in the side again. But when she didn't he looked at her and saw that she seemed to be wondering the same thing.

"See this decent?" Skye said to the three, pointing it out on the board. "It's gradual, but they shouldn't have been descending to this degree. It points to one thing, and that's a complete engine failure."

"Both engines, this is going to be rough to prove," Peter said with a sigh. "Was there any indication on the ATC recording about both?"

"Not that I've been able to hear," Skye said. "Their focus was on getting to the airport. I think the decent was a surprise, which makes no sense because I told you they were calling out their altitude."

"Unless another problem got them distracted. That's happened before," Peter said.

"I know," Skye said slowly. "I've listened to the ATC recording beginning with when they were handed off from ZNY to the tower. But if it was both engines, it had to have happened by then since they'd become a glider before that point."

"The FDR's data and CVR recording are being extracted," Peter said. "But since this is the case we have something to look at." He stood and then said to his colleague, "We've moved everything across the bay to Pacific Air's maintenance hangars at JFK. I'll get Sharon and Drake to start taking a look at the engines."

"What was it you wanted to tell me?" Skye said before he could leave.

"That I had a hunch it was the engines," Peter said a little sheepishly. "I didn't realize you had already figured it out." He took out his phone, and took a picture of the graph with it before saying, "I'll send it to you."

"Thank you," Skye said.

"Okay here?" Peter said after glancing quickly at the two detectives and Castle.

"Very much, you know I'd love to speak with the pilot and co-pilots," Skye said.

"Pilot is still out, co-pilot just went in for surgery, some internal injuries," Peter said, growing somber.

"Will he survive?" Skye asked worriedly. When Peter shrugged she sucked in a deep breath and then nodded saying, "Okay, I'll contact you in case there's anything I come up with. I could use the conversation between Pac Air and ZNY."

"I'll see what I can do, but you make a good point," Peter said.

"It would help if we had a better idea of when this started," Skye said.

"Excuse me, Investigator King," Beckett said then, standing as he started to leave.

"Yeah?" Peter asked, a little surprised at her stopping him.

"We'd like to speak with you if we can; in private," Beckett told him as Castle stood up.

* * *

"If you're going to ask me what I know about Skye, I can tell you right now it's a lot," Peter said easily as Castle and Beckett sat across from where he'd sat down on the couch. "We used to work together at the NTSB and NTSB West, and she had six cases before she became an IIC. Those six cases I was the IIC."

"Actually we're wondering if you'll be able to tell us anything at all about a Rodrigo Luis," Beckett said.

"Oh, that mother…" Peter said in anger before he quickly cut himself off. "Yeah, I do, and it's not good. But you think he could be involved in your case?"

"He's a person of interest considering what we know about him and Skye," Castle said.

Snorting Peter said, "I wouldn't put them together. He was a, still is actually, a misogynist and a bastard all around. He seemed to think even though Skye was very happily married, he had enough charm to get her to forget her wife. You've never seen Skye and her wife, but if you have; as he did actually; you'd know he was wasting his breath."

"Ms. McDouglas has seen Agent Luis?" Beckett asked for confirmation.

"He has, because she was used by the FBI; meaning him and his partner; for the case they were working on," Peter King said. "I was there as well, but that was because I'm a metallurgist, so I specialize in metal fatigue which was a factor in the case; Skye brought me in. But Mary was brought in and nearly thrown out of the case by Agent Luis though she would have finished up the FBI's involvement in Skye's case immediately."

"But she remained on the case?" Beckett asked, going along with that line as she wondered if Skye's wife might have something to do with the FBI agent's involvement other than just being married to the investigator.

"She did, and she and Skye never worked directly with each other, so it never became an issue," Peter said. "After that though, was when Luis started to hit on Skye. She ignored him, but when he touched her inappropriately she had enough after two weeks, and went to his partner. From there it went downhill, Luis was recalled to DC, and she filed a restraining order and he was nearly fired when the circumstances from that came to light. So I can imagine he hates her, but there's likely still a kind of desire to have her. He was crazy like that." He stopped talking but then said, "You honestly think he killed Lenora Jenkins?"

"We're not sure," Beckett said slowly.

"Do you think he'd want to kill Skye herself?" Castle asked.

"I don't know," Peter said honestly. "I have no idea how that man's mind works, but Skye might. She has a degree in psychology, so she would have a better idea of what's going on with him. Have you mentioned it to her?"

"We've asked her about him, but not details," Beckett said. "I wanted to get your view before I asked her what happened. Also I think she's been busy."

"As am I," Peter said. "Is it alright if I head back to JFK?"

"That's fine, I may contact you, so if there's a point where you'll be returning to DC I'd ask you to let me know," Beckett said, standing up as Castle and the investigator did the same. "Thank you for your time Investigator."

"Not a problem, I really don't think it's Luis. But I'm more used to looking into planes, so I'll leave it to you to figure it out," Peter said. He paused as they walked to the door and then said, "I just have a hard time believing he wouldn't go after Skye first."

"He might have decided it would be easier to get to her through those she cares about," Castle commented.

Looking a little disturbed at that thought, Peter nodded and handed a card to Beckett saying, "My information."

"Thank you, here," she said, handing him hers. "I may have more questions."

"About Skye? I would just ask her herself," Peter said. "If you need to get her to respond just remind her she needs to get home to her family."

"I'll keep that in mind," Beckett murmured before the man left. She stepped out with him, and as she and Castle were about to go toward her desk Esposito called out to them and then ran over.

"Another body," Esposito said when he was near enough.

"A second murder?" Ryan asked, coming out of the conference room with Skye.

"Who is it?" Skye asked in concern when she heard that.

"Not sure, no ID on her, but she's about late forties with long…" Esposito began. He looked at what he had written down on a piece of paper and said, "Brown hair-"

"Gray eyes?" Skye whispered then, cutting him off. When Esposito nodded she closed her eyes tightly and said hoarsely as pain filled her voice, "Oh god, it's Olivia."


	4. Can't Understand Or Deal With Hate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just wanted to note the Air Alaska accident I mention is actually based on the accident of Alaska Airlines Flight 261, I changed some things, as that was going to be in the first book of a series about an NTSB investigator like Skye, the accident and then the investigation. And the other accident and incidents I mentioned I took from actual ones too.
> 
> The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song This Guitar (Can't Keep from Crying) by George Harrison, from his album Extra Texture (Read All About It).

Stepping out of her car, Beckett watched as Skye did the same from the backseat and told the investigator, "You should probably stay here."

"I can't, I have to know if it's Olivia," Skye replied, a pleading look in her eyes though she didn't realize it.

"We have her picture," Beckett began.

"Please, I'm asking you, begging, to let me see if it's her," Skye said, her hands together in supplication.

"Fine, but once we have an ID, you need to leave the area," Beckett said, looking at Castle as they walked around the car to him.

"I'll bring her back to the car," he said quickly, picking up on her expression.

Skye nodded absently, and then followed the two into Central Park. She was quiet as their shoes crunched in the snow and she saw ahead a group of police officers and other people.

"Perlmutter," Beckett said when they'd ducked under the tape and came up to the body which was covered. "What do you have?"

"A middle aged woman, throat cut," the ME said, glancing up at them before he stopped catching sight of Skye. "Investigator McDouglas."

"Doctor," Skye said, nodding to him. "May I?" she asked.

"Do you know her?" Perlmutter asked. When Skye nodded again he stood and gestured with his hand, watching as she pulled down the sheet after kneeling next to the body. "Who is she?"

"Olivia Hurst," Skye said, covering the woman's face before standing up quickly when she saw the state the woman was in. "She is… was a trainer at the NTSB training facility. She was my teacher for Air Accident Investigation 101."

"Were you close?" Castle asked, seeing the steely expression on Skye's face betrayed by her paling skin.

"After I left her class we became friends, when I first became an IIC, I contacted her if I found it necessary. We still exchange e-mails… we used to. She was my mentor," Skye said. "I think I'll stand over there, you can stay," she said to Castle who started to walk after her. "I have her husband's number; I'd like to contact him unless that's your purview Beckett."

"Go ahead, but don't relate any details to him," Beckett said. She waited to watch Skye go outside of the crime scene and lean against a tree before putting her phone to her ear.

"You know her?" Castle asked the ME as he knelt back down next to the body.

"I was one of the MEs that performed autopsies on victims of a crash at La Guardia, she was one of the people from the NTSB that came in," Perlmutter said absently as he uncovered the victim's head again. "That was eleven years ago."

"And you still remember her," Castle commented as Beckett knelt down.

"I think it's obvious to everyone here right now that I did," Perlmutter snapped. "So Detective," he said, turning his attention to Beckett. "It was a quick death if you want to tell her that," he nodded to Skye who was still on the phone. "I'm going to place the time of death at about eleven this morning."

"Castle," Beckett said, looking up at him. "Ask her if she knows where our vic lived." When he'd gone she then said to the ME, "Was the weapon left behind this time?"

"Same as this morning," Perlmutter confirmed. "Whatever this is, it's most likely the same as the weapon that was found in the alley," he said, holding up a bag with a piece of metal with a sharp edge, making it almost triangular in shape. "Along with this," he said as he held up a bag with a piece of paper with Skye's full name on it; that time the ink red. "And the same as your previous victim, the killer held her from behind," he said, glancing over at Skye as Beckett did the same. "A quick sweep across the throat that was a little jagged at first as she tried to fight back. Most likely the killer held onto her tighter, and…" he finished with a sweeping motion across his own neck.

"Yeah, I got that," Beckett said absently. "Was there anything besides the manner of death you found with the first vic?"

"There was significant bruising on the body and I'll take a look at this body once I get her down to the morgue for anything similar. And I'll let you know what I find," Perlmutter said before Beckett stood up and left the area.

"She lived a few blocks from here," Castle said after Beckett had spoken with Ryan and Esposito.

"Her husband is going to head to the Precinct," Skye said. "I told him you might want to talk with him. What he told me though, is that Olivia got a call this morning, and told him that it was about me, I was in the hospital undergoing some kind of surgery."

"So he's luring them out," Beckett said absently.

"Of course, with me as bait," Skye suddenly snapped.

"So you know Perlmutter," Castle said to try and change the subject quickly.

"I heard you speaking," Skye said. "And yes, he was the ME for the crash I was helping Peter with… oh no," she suddenly trailed off, looking back the way they'd walked to the crime scene. "Wait, don't!" she yelled as Peter King suddenly came running to them. She ran to her colleague and grabbed him, trying to hold him back.

"I have to see her Skye!" Peter said, trying to get past her. "It's her isn't it?" he said, seeing the body covered by a sheet.

"Peter, stop," Skye said before Castle started to help her. She then put her hand on his cheek and turned him to her, speaking to her fellow investigator rapidly in another language.

Glancing at Beckett who was standing behind them, Castle gave her a questioning look when Peter suddenly relaxed and he let go of the man.

"It's alright," Skye said, turning Peter and walking with him back to the street. She had directed that to Castle, and talked to Peter again in the same language, soothingly before she took him over to his car.

"I wonder what she's saying," Beckett said. "I wonder how he knows our vic."

"Do you need to speak to him?" Skye called to her then.

Walking over, Beckett said once she was close, "I'm sorry Investigator King, but I do have some questions."

"Not that I killed her, please don't ask me that," Peter said roughly, his eyes reddened as Skye gripped his shoulder. He spoke a few words to her in the language she'd used and then said to Beckett after Skye's reply, "We dated once, when I had finished the course that Livia had taught. We were close but… we wanted different things, she was very much rooted to one place for her work, I didn't mind traveling. We broke up but stayed close and I don't think I ever stopped loving her though I didn't realize it until now."

"How did you feel when she got married?" Beckett asked.

"I accepted it, we were… we'd grown too far apart, but that didn't stop what I felt for her," Peter said.

"Do you need me to take over for the rest of the day?" Skye asked.

"No, no, I just need a second," Peter said, shaking his head. "Her husband loved her too Detective, you'll see that if you speak with him. This is someone else. How did she… was she killed?"

Skye immediately spoke the same lilting language and when Peter shook his head, replying in the same manner she sighed and said, "Like Lenora."

"God, how long until they get you?" Peter asked her.

"I don't matter, what we need to worry about is you, and everyone else even remotely connected to me," Skye said. "You need to head back to your hotel."

"She's right," Beckett said, letting him know the interview was over. "There's really nothing you can do here."

After speaking a few words to Skye, Peter squeezed her arm and then got into his car, the three watching him drive away.

"What were you speaking to him?" Castle suddenly asked.

"Welsh," Skye replied, turning to Beckett with a sigh. "Is he a suspect?"

"I doubt it, at eleven he was in the station, as were the rest of us," she replied. "So unless he has an accomplice he's clear. Ryan, Espo," she then called as she saw the two detectives walking up to them. "Did anyone see anything?"

"Someone saw a tall man, black top, pants, motorcycle helmet and sunglasses running in that direction," Ryan said, pointing southwest of their location. "They discovered the body after but never actually saw the man with the body."

"How tall?" Beckett asked.

"About six to six foot six," Ryan replied.

"Tall then. Espo?" Beckett said, turning to him.

"Got some people from the direction the suspect was running towards, they confirmed the description, and mentioned a motorcycle," Esposito said. "So black boots as well."

"Any description on the bike?" Castle asked.

"Kawasaki, white with a red stripe, but no one was able to make out the license plate," Esposito said, referencing his notebook.

"Okay, I need you two to head back to the station," Beckett said. "I don't care how you do it, but our second vic's husband is going to be there, and I need you to get an alibi for him. Someone needs to try and see about the phone call she got; if it's legit. And I would love to have security footage once we get back from the morgue."

"You want us to check it out?" Esposito asked.

"No, I'll be looking at it," Beckett said before turning to Skye. "I'll need your help on that."

"So I'll be able to take a look at the killer?" Skye asked. When Beckett nodded, she nodded in return and said, "Whatever I can do."

"What do you need to look at, at the morgue?" Ryan asked.

"She needs to go," Beckett said, nodding to Skye.

"You know Welsh?" the investigator asked in shock; the others looking at their colleague in surprise as well.

"You said morgue a couple times in English. The victims from the crash?" Beckett asked. When Skye indicated with a nod that she was right she nodded to Ryan and Esposito saying, "We'll see you back at the Precinct."

"Hey Perlmutter," Castle called as the ME was walking towards the van ahead of the victim's body. "Are you in charge of the crash victims too?"

"Hell no," Perlmutter said, startling them; except for Skye. "I told myself once was enough, that's why Dr. Parish is in charge," he directed towards the investigator at the latter end of his sentence. "She'll do better than I will. And good luck if he butts into your investigation at all," he told Skye, indicating Castle.

Watching the doctor leave with the body as Ryan and Esposito walked to their car, Castle turned to Beckett and Skye saying, "I really didn't expect that reaction."

"You weren't there, they were mostly children," Skye said, her body tense. "I don't blame him. And I take it he's not a fan."

"We should go," Beckett said, wanting to get them to the morgue. "We'll meet Perlmutter there Castle, and take a look at the fist vic before he… looks at the second," she said, glancing at Skye as they went to the doors of her car.

"Sure," Castle said, watching Skye. "Are you okay?" he asked before she got in the backseat.

"Fine," Skye said shortly. She hesitated for a moment and said, "You would think that after so many years seeing the results of crashes I wouldn't be affected but… I've never had to look at a victim who was someone I knew. Not since I was a little girl."

"Don't," Beckett said quickly to stop Castle from saying anything as Skye slammed the door shut after herself.

"She still remembers the crash," Castle commented.

"I know," Beckett stated simply before she got in the car herself. "Let's go Castle," she called before he seemed to jump and got in.

* * *

"Lanie?" Beckett said, standing in the doorway of the main room of the morgue with Castle and Skye.

"Are you Investigator McDouglas?" Lanie asked as she walked up to them.

"I am, I'm here for Investigator King," Skye said. "I understand you've been able to take a look at some of the victims?"

"I have," Lanie replied. She then turned to Beckett and Castle and said, "He's down the hall. This way please," directing Skye inside the room.

"You forget the casualties," Castle suddenly said as they looked inside the room and saw nearly all the tables were occupied.

"I don't think she does," Beckett said, watching as Lanie uncovered one victim and Skye seemed to tense up as she'd done before at the crime scene.

"Excuse me," a man said suddenly behind them. "Skye," he called as Beckett tried to stop him before he started pulling on an NTSB jacket.

"It's alright," Skye called. "He's in charge of Survival Factors in the go team. Come on in Denny."

"We should go," Beckett said.

"Detective?" Perlmutter said as he came out a door into the hall. "I just got the second victim prepared for the procedure, the first victim is ready. Taking a look at her earlier," he told them as he led the way to another room where there were two tables, their vics occupying both. "I noticed specific bruising in different areas on her body and I took some photographs since it was hard to get a good look at them," he said, handing Beckett a stack of them.

"A gun," Castle said, trying to discern where the bruising pattern was on the body in the obviously enhanced photograph.

"Stuck into her back, right at her liver, and also at her chest, above the last rib to the left," Perlmutter said. "Then there are the bruises over her face. You can see here that they're pretty pronounced."

"The killer kidnapped them after he lured them to him," Beckett said since the vic's wrists had bruising on them. "But she fought back, and I'm going to guess now that our second vic did the same thing. This muzzle though," she said as she went back to the first picture. "With the measurement, I would say a .45."

"So our killer owns a Kawasaki, and also has a .45," Castle mused. "You said the second vic died at eleven?" he asked the ME.

"That's what her temperature would indicate," Perlmutter replied, looking at a file.

"But the call came in about two, so he killed her somewhere else-" Castle started to say.

"I'm pretty sure I mentioned there was little blood around the second vic," Perlmutter interrupted him.

"No, of course, but I'm just saying, what if he had them held together until he took them," Castle said. "And the first victim was able to escape, that's why he killed her where he did."

"You think he wanted to send a message?" Beckett asked, starting to get a sense of what he was thinking.

"To Skye," Castle said, nodding out the door. "The first vic escaped from him for a while, but I bet if you get enough security footage from the street around it, you'll see him trapping her there. It sends the message that he wants the body to be Skye's, that the victim herself is nothing."

"And with the second vic it's more of a warning," Beckett mused. "I can drop her in Central Park in broad daylight and no one will see who I am or be able to find me. I can do the same to you. He's stepping up the intimidation, he's going to try and get closer to her. Excuse me," she said suddenly before she left the room.

Castle was a little startled when he looked to her at that and found her gone, so he turned to leave and then stopped to quickly tell Perlmutter, "I'm sure she'll want to know if you find anything after the autopsy." When the ME didn't even bother to respond he ran out the room and saw that Beckett was a little down the hall from where Skye and the other NTSB investigator were standing, watching them.

"Did you tell Perlmutter-" Beckett began.

"Yeah, taken care of," Castle said quickly. "Are they finished?"

"I don't think so," Beckett said.

"Thank you Denny, I'll send this to Peter, let him know what you found," Skye was saying before she closed the tablet she had been writing on and walked over to Castle and Beckett. "I'm set," she said, closing her bag that was hanging from her shoulder.

"Anything unusual?" Castle asked as they walked down the hall.

"No, the cause of death were all internal injuries, one of them had a severe concussion and another lacerations," Skye said. "Which would make sense with a rougher landing."

"Did they not realize they were flying a glider?" Beckett said.

"Good question, everything's going to depend on the CVR and FDR," Skye said simply. "But you would think with these injuries that they weren't sufficiently prepared for the landing. I don't believe it though, it's hard to."

"Do you know the pilot?" Beckett said as the investigator looked a little troubled.

"And the co-pilot, they're experienced, and they've flown a plane in some form or another since they were young," Skye said. "If I could speak with them…" She shook her head and then said, "I don't really have anything else I can do at this point."

"Do you mind going back to the Precinct?" Castle asked.

Smiling briefly, Skye said, "No, I need to look at some things, and I have to help you with that security footage don't I?" she directed to Beckett. When she'd nodded, Skye then said, "I have to ask, your partner was talking about a motorcycle the killer used to escape."

"It was likely parked there beforehand," Beckett said. "And used once the killer… after he set the body in the park."

Nodding Skye then said, "So he's planned all of this out. I don't envy you your job, it's usually easier to look into a crash, there's usually no questioning who, instead how and why."

"Most likely why you're with the NTSB," Castle commented.

"Not really, but it's an interesting theory," Skye said before she lengthened her strides and walked ahead of them.

"Are you still going to look deeper into her background?" Castle asked Beckett once they were alone.

"I need to," Beckett said simply. "These victims, the manner of death. It's all incredibly personal and brutal, there is someone that wants her dead and is willing to taunt her until he has the chance to kill her," she said as she saw that Skye was waiting for them at the door.

* * *

"Pick up anything from the interview?" Castle asked, staying back as Beckett and Skye walked over to her desk ahead of him.

"Not really, he's got a solid alibi," Ryan said. "He was going to his private practice on the west side at the time of the murder; cab driver confirmed it. Apparently his wife got a call at about ten this morning before she left the apartment in a rush, saying she was going to the hospital."

"Just checked on the bike, the owners of a white Kawasaki with a red stripe checked out and none of them registered in the city have been stolen recently. Got our second vic's phone record too," Esposito said, walking over from his desk. "About the time the husband said his wife got the call, another burner phone."

"A different phone?" Castle asked as he looked at the paper.

"He might be trying to get us to start thinking of accomplices," Ryan suggested.

"I would be surprised if she really did have enemies, besides the FBI agent," Castle said. "I'll show this to Beckett." As he walked over to her desk, he watched as Beckett and Skye were talking before the investigator pulled her phone out of her pocket and walked over to the conference room; speaking rapidly in what he guessed was Welsh again.

"Anything?" Beckett asked.

"Another burner phone," Castle explained, handing her the file. "The husband's alibi is solid and we don't really have anything concerning the motorcycle."

"Which I expected," Beckett said, looking at the highlighted number and nodding. "Okay, so we know now from the doorman at the vic's building that she got into a car without license plates. A standard black sedan that could have come from any rental car company or been stolen, or from out of state," she said, stepping up to the murder board. "And that was at about ten this morning. An hour later she was dead. But he held the body for another three."

"He was waiting," Castle said. "Maybe to see what we were doing concerning the case. Maybe he wanted to lull us into thinking we would only have one murder on our hands. And when he thought he'd waited long enough, he brought out the second body. But, with him killing her three hours before it doesn't work."

"He might be watching her," Beckett said.

"He might have made Skye wait," Castle said. "Thinking the longer she had to dwell on what happened the more terrified she might be."

"He probably forgot about her case," Beckett then said, turning to him; neither of them noticing Skye was standing a little down from them, watching them and trying to get their attention. "And once he realized he wasn't going to be able to see a reaction from her, or get her to make a mistake and expose herself to him, he dropped the body at the park."

"Which was more public," Castle said. "And since she's here in the city and with you; the lead investigator; he'd be able to watch her reaction."

"Not much of a reaction," Beckett said.

"But enough for him to…" Castle began to say before trailing off.

"Get a thrill," Beckett finished for him. "So we need another canvas done here in this area," she said as she waved her hand over the map on the murder board that was marked with the two places the victims had been found. "Ryan, Espo," she called to the two who were at their desks. She then turned to the room Skye was in, and was startled to find it empty.

"Sorry about that," a voice suddenly said behind them. They all turned at nearly the same time to see that Skye was walking towards them from the break room. "But I saw you were a bit busy and I decided to chance a cup of tea since it didn't look like you'd be stopping any time soon. There was something I wanted to ask you."

"Just a second," Beckett said quickly before turning to her partners. "I need you to canvas the Dakota, the shops, restaurants, everything across the street from where we found our second vic, see if anyone saw a man about the height we know our killer is watching us."

"Got it," Esposito said before leaving.

"Ryan, I need security footage again," Beckett said. "Hopefully we'll get something better than we did with the footage of our first murder."

"I'll see what I can find," Ryan said with a nod.

"Alright, what did you want to ask?" Beckett asked, turning to the NTSB investigator.

"Do you know the murder weapon used to… that was used to kill Lenora and Olivia?" Skye asked, hesitating for a moment before continuing.

"All we know is that it's a metallic object, with a really, really sharp edge," Castle said.

"He's right," Beckett said as the investigator looked at her. "Why?"

"I know what it is," Skye said, breathing in deeply for a moment. She stepped over to the murder board and pointed to the pictures of the weapons. "I'd like you to take a look at this, versus this," she then told Castle and Beckett as they stepped closer to her while she put up a picture against the top picture.

"It's the same color paint," Castle said.

"The end of the wing," Beckett said, looking at Skye as the bright blue on the murder weapon matched the one on the picture of an Air Signapore plane.

"The winglet. It's detachable, but if you used the right tools to cut it off, that metal is sharp," Skye said. "And this, will be the second murder weapon," she said, holding up a picture of a United Airlines jet, the winglet on it matching the picture to its right.

"How would the killer be able to get those?" Beckett asked as Castle clipped the pictures to the board.

"The Boeing plant in Washington state," Skye said. She began to pace then as she said, "They have the winglets, prepared but unpainted in one room. When they get an order from an airline, they'll paint it to match the airline's livery and attach it."

"They're not made with the winglets already on?" Castle asked, looking at the picture.

"No, they're detachable as I said, which would likely mean the killer knew they'd be easier to get a hold of as a murder weapon," Skye said.

"Is there any significance to these two airlines?" Beckett suddenly asked.

"There is, the Air Singapore was the airline Lenora flew on when she was in that crash," Skye said. "And as for the United… there was a crash in DC of one of their 747s, and Olivia managed to secure it with Peter for me to look at the crash site. It was my first time in the field."

"I'll call Boeing," Beckett said. "They should have security footage that we can look at and see if there's a better shot of the killer there."

"How's your case?" Castle asked as Beckett went to her desk and picked up the phone.

"Alright," Skye shrugged. "We're at a bit of a standstill, the Powerplants people are still taking the two engines apart, and that takes time. Besides that we're waiting on what we can get from Center, the CVR and FDR. But I think I can check on the list of the cases I've done, see if they can be tracked. Excuse me."

Nodding, though the woman didn't see it, Castle turned to Beckett, sitting down as he watched her wait to talk to someone from the Boeing plant. He eventually started to time the conversation, as she was put on hold for at least ten minutes, and then had to be transferred numerous times before she was finally hanging up. "Is it that hard to get security camera footage?" he asked her.

"Apparently there was a break in three nights ago, the FBI is investigating it," Beckett said. "But when I explained who I was and what I was investigating, they transferred me to the SAIC, and was told all they can tell that was taken were some winglets."

"What airlines?" Castle asked, wondering if that would be a break.

"There were over fifty taken," Beckett said. "Each one a different airline."

Leaning back in his chair Castle said, "He's smart, evil, but smart."

"He's had a lot of time to work this out," Beckett said. "I'm going to check and see what Ryan has. If you're going to tell Skye about what happened, tell her we'll be getting footage tomorrow morning, the FBI was nice enough to offer to get what we need ready for us since they need the same."

"Yeah," Castle said absently before he walked over to the room where Skye was, wondering how she would handle hearing so many winglets had been taken. He couldn't blame Beckett then for trying to get out of telling her that, the number was staggering. But it surprised him she trusted him enough to not screw things up; though he guessed she thought it would be easier for the investigator to hear that coming from him since he'd spent more time with Skye than she had. Taking a deep breath, he stepped inside, ready to speak. But when he saw Skye hanging up her phone, her face pale as a sheet; he realized she knew already and there was nothing he needed to say.

* * *

Looking at the papers spread over the table, Beckett set down the last one that Ryan and Esposito had found with information about Skye. She knew almost everything there was about the woman, but there was a large chunk missing from what she knew; the crash Skye had been in at six years old. All she had was basic information, the date, time and cause of the crash. She wasn't sure why she needed to know about that, since it was obviously a moment that the investigator preferred to forget and didn't have much to do with the case based on what they had so far. She stood up and started to get everything in order before picking up a pile of the papers and files and leaving the room, nearly running into Castle.

"Hey, I thought you could use some coffee," he told her, handing her the cup as he took the papers.

"Thanks, and I could after what I've been reading," Beckett said. "And seeing." She saw that Castle was looking at her questioningly, so she said, "There were pictures of the crash she was in at age six. It was… bad."

"Is it alright if I look through these?" Castle asked then.

"Go ahead, I'm going to call Julia, I feel the need to call her," Beckett said, checking her watch and seeing it was almost five.

Castle didn't say anything, but he'd already known she was going to do that, as she'd been touching her pendant, a habit she'd picked up when she was thinking about her daughter. He watched her walk over to the break room before he sat down next to her desk with the papers, starting to read over them.

As Beckett entered the room, she was a little startled to hear someone talking on the phone and she looked over to see it was Skye, murmuring in another language before she hung up. "Sorry, I was about to call my daughter," she said when the investigator looked at her in surprise.

"Quite alright," Skye said with a shrug. "I was talking to my kids actually." She started to leave, but when Beckett passed her she paused and turned saying, "I wanted to thank you Beckett."

"For what?" she asked, turning to face Skye.

"For contacting the LAPD, and having my wife and girls put under a protective detail," Skye said.

"And your… guardian as well it turns out," Beckett said.

"Yes, I spoke with him just now," Skye said with a slight smile. "He's a little irked at what's going on, but when I assured him I could use his help protecting my children he eased off. My dad is rather gruff," she finished with as she saw Beckett looked a little confused. "He prefers his home, but he understood why he's had to temporarily move into my house."

"Your dad," Beckett said slowly.

"Hmm, surprised it wasn't in those papers you have on me," Skye said, nodding towards Castle who was looking into a file. "He's technically my guardian; my father gave him custody of me in his will. I call him Dad."

"I'm sorry if it seems like I'm prying-" Beckett said.

"No, no, I did the same myself when I was looking into flight crews," Skye said in understanding. "It's intrusive, but necessary. I'd like to look at my case before that list gets here. By the way, how is your case developing?"

"Nothing really, that canvass didn't reveal anything. Most of the bystanders were watching the crime scene across the street and not around them," Beckett answered. "And there wasn't much we could get from the little security footage there was. The killer most likely was aware of the cameras and took care to get out of the way of them."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Skye said. She nodded then and left the room saying, "I'm sorry also that my information isn't complete."

Not surprised that she had mentioned that, Beckett took her phone out of her pocket, and called Castle's mother before starting to talk with Julia once the phone went to her.

At Beckett's desk, Castle set down the picture of the plane that Skye had been on when she was six, understanding why his fiancée had had a hard time looking at it. Most of the plane was burned, all except for the front section which had broken apart from the fuselage, but had slid off the runway into a building, the nose and what looked like the cockpit mostly destroyed. He shook his head slightly and put the picture away before setting the papers on top of the desk, looking up to see Beckett walking to him. "She alright?" he asked.

"She's fine," Beckett said absently as she set down her cup of coffee. "You saw?"

"I saw," Castle said. "Are we so sure it's not her, with a partner?"

"I've tossed that idea around, but no, I think she embraces her career choice," Beckett said. "And you saw the picture of her in that article; if that's her office then she loves planes. I don't think she would use one of those winglets to kill people who she was apparently close to."

"Yeah, I'm thinking about starting one myself," Castle mused.

"Passenger jet models? I thought you'd be more into military vehicles," Beckett said in amusement.

"Those too," Castle said. "Do we have any idea when we'll get the summaries of the reports?"

"Soon," Beckett said, looking at her watch again. "If you're impatient, I would suggest you take a look at… her case," she started to say before trailing off as he looked at his phone. "Seriously?" she asked.

"What? I'm not needed for anything am I?" Castle asked, looking up at her.

"No," Beckett said, shaking her head as she looked at the screen of his phone. "That's a nice one," she said, seeing the model plane he was looking at.

"She's right, but I should warn you to be sure you have space for a model at a 1:200 scale ratio, they take up quite a lot of room, especially the A380 like the one you're looking at," Skye said, coming up behind Castle and seeing the model British Airways plane on his phone. "Sorry, I was checking to see if there'd been a delivery for me. Some pictures from the hangar at JFK," she said when he and Beckett looked at her in surprise.

"How could you see that so far away?" Castle asked, looking down at his screen and where the woman had walked from.

"Don't let the glasses fool you," Skye said, walking over to the room as she gestured to the black oval frames. "I know a plane when I see it."

"Yo Beckett," Esposito said, walking out of the elevator as he carried a large box. "They said these were for you."

"Are they from the NTSB?" Beckett asked, looking over at him.

"Yeah, there are three of them," Ryan said, following his colleague with an officer behind him, all of them carrying large boxes.

"Back there," Beckett said as she waited for them to pass her. She followed them into the back room, and opened the box that Esposito set down.

"Holy… Beckett, we're supposed to read these?" Castle asked, picking up one of the reports which was easily two inches thick.

"They sent all the files? Bugger it all, I told the chap I spoke with on the phone I needed a list with summaries," Skye said, walking in then. "I'm sorry."

"Were you planning on leaving?" Beckett asked, seeing the investigator was holding her bag.

"Not at the moment," Skye said, putting her bag on one of the chairs. "I can help you with a list though if you'd like."

"That would be nice," Ryan said, looking up from the report he was holding. "I have no idea what this one's talking about."

"That would be my first case; the Air Singapore that Lenora was on," Skye said. "And that I explained to you already, Beckett, Castle, was CFIT due to spatial disorientation."

"Get the murder board in here," Beckett told Esposito. "We'll write out the list on the other side." She then turned to Skye who was looking through the box that Esposito had held and asked, "Did anyone have any problems accepting your findings?"

"Not that I know of," Skye said, stepping out of the way as Esposito pushed the board into the room. "There was never any legal action taken, though I tried to let the media know that losing your bearings in that way isn't something you do intentionally, and even the best pilots can go through that. My father nearly did, going out of East Midlands in the early 90s."

"How'd he get out of it?" Castle asked as Esposito was writing down the airline and flight number on the board in black.

"Had his co-pilot take over the takeoff until they got to Stoke on Trent which was more populated with lights that he could use for reference," Skye said. "Alright, next is flight 82, the airline was Southeastern Airways. That was… mechanical, those I'm not sure you really want to write down."

"How was it mechanical failure?" Beckett asked, looking at the report for a moment but seeing that Ryan had been right; it was almost impossible to gather what it was about exactly.

"The engine had a faulty fuel valve that cut off fuel to the right two engines; this was an A340," Skye said. "The company that made the valve took acceptance for the fault, fixed it, and that was the end of that."

"Even if it costs them money to take the planes out of service," Castle said. "The airlines I mean."

"It's more a matter of common sense in that case," Skye said, pulling out the reports in the box and stacking them. She sat down then and said, "They leave the planes as they are, they lose passengers who are too scared to fly and they lose money. So no, nothing that would have anyone seeing me as an enemy in that case."

"Alright, then let us know which ones are the cases that will have a potential suspect," Beckett said.

Nodding, Skye then proceeded to go through her past cases, and once they finished the first box she looked at the list on the murder board. "It's odd to see it like this. My career," she commented.

"I get that way looking at my books on a shelf," Castle said.

"Interesting similarity," Skye said suddenly before she continued. "Alright, China Guangzhou Air was pilot error. It crashed after takeoff because there was actually a typhoon going on during the time. And there was strong wake turbulence from another plane that had just taken off. He ignored the tower to hold since it had been a 747. The airline nearly sued me for that actually, but the co-CEO was a friend of my father's, just managed to get them to drop it once we played the CVR for them, it helped it was in Mandarin."

"Do you know how to speak that?" Ryan asked.

"Pretty well, I go to Chinatown back home in LA, and am able to keep it fresh in my mind," Skye said. "Alright, this one was Southwest, but merely an incident, there was an explosive decompression event, a chunk of the fuselage at the top came off during flight, but the pilot was able to land safely. I don't know the CEOs that well, but I would guess they don't have anything against me. Everything was settled well."

"Didn't that happen a second time?" Esposito asked. "I had an old army buddy on that flight, he told me about it," he said when the others looked at him.

"It was basically the same, explosive decompression event," Skye said with a nod. "And then we pressured the FAA to strengthen their regulations on the tests that airlines must take to check for metal fatigue. If Peter was here he'd be able to give you more information on that, since he's a top metallurgist. But there you are."

"Write down the airline," Beckett said. "What?" she asked Castle as she saw he was standing up.

"Sorry, I just needed a break, I was going to get coffee for everyone… and tea," Castle said, nodding to Skye.

"Go ahead," Beckett said. "Alright, Skye? What's this?"

"Air Alaska, yeah, that one… was a tough one," Skye sighed deeply as she took the report that Beckett handed her. "You may have heard of it."

"I've heard about the confrontation you had in court," Beckett said.

"I was hoping you hadn't seen that," Skye said with a slight groan. "I was incredibly angry and I don't think it was my finest moment."

"What are you talking about?" Ryan asked as Esposito wrote down the flight number on the board.

"An MD-80 had a failure of the horizontal stabilizer trim system; the flaps on the t-tail shape of the fin basically; and the pilots were unable to recover from the inversion and dive the jammed horizontal stabilizer put the plane into," Skye said somberly. "It crashed off of Monterey Bay, and it turned out the co-CEO was instructing maintenance employees to extend maintenance checks on different parts of the airplane. Each maintenance procedure has a set time period between checks and they were disregarding that. Until finally the jackscrew in the tail that made the horizontal stabilizer move, which is supposed to be lubricated, dried out and there was no way to stop the accident from happening. His name was Walter Morcamb, and we tussled a bit in court after he was found guilty of negligent homicide."

"Tussled?" Castle said, appearing in the doorway. "You almost got into a brawl with the man."

"You heard what he said to me," Skye said simply. "And his disregard for those eighty-eight passengers and crew… it infuriated me and I couldn't drop it."

"Is he in prison?" Esposito asked.

"He was, he's dead now," Skye said, taking the mug that Castle handed her. "Thank you. He killed himself by hanging."

"Any family?" Beckett said.

"Not that I'm aware of," Skye said. "A lead?"

"Person of interest," Beckett said.

Nodding, Skye reached into the box for the next report when Esposito said, "Something about the NTSB."

Turning, Beckett looked at the TV closest to the room that he was looking at and saw that a woman with an NTSB jacket appeared to be giving a press conference. She stayed back as Esposito and Ryan left to listen in and said, "I think they're interested in your case."

"It appears they all are," Skye said, looking over and seeing that Castle had joined them. "I would guess it doesn't interest you as much, or are you more focused on your own investigation Detective?"

"Our cases are a little… entwined at this point," Beckett said, looking at the cover of the case report the investigator was holding. "But for me the most important thing is ensuring your safety and finding the killer."

"I'm glad to hear that," Skye said quickly. "Are we waiting for them or shall we continue on?"

"Continue, this one?" Beckett asked.

"An incident, the door of this Athens Airways 757 was failing to lock properly and wasn't pressurizing in its ascent. It was just a faulty lock, a check of all other 757s in use were negative, so it was a one in a million kind of thing," Skye answered. "This next one was in Thailand, turned out to be a mix of pilot error and also problems with the airline; South Thai Airlines; in its infrastructure. It was a mess."

"How did you investigate it?" Beckett asked as she went to the board and wrote down STA 51 and made an asterisk to note that it was an international investigation.

"It was an MD-82," Skye said simply.

"Guys," Beckett said as she saw the three men were still watching the press conference. "We can use some help here with the rest of her reports."

"She's almost finished, she mentioned Investigator McDouglas," Ryan said.

"Feel free to call me Skye," she said. "Both of you, alright, do you mind if I sit for a moment?"

Murmuring that it was fine, Beckett watched as the woman sat down, realizing she looked a little strained. "Only a few cases left," she commented.

"Yes, okay, this one was an accident, it was an Airbus 340, from Trans Airways; a French airline. It crashed outside of Las Vegas, turned out the level it was flying had made the wings ice over, and the deicing components were overwhelmed," Skye said, taking off her glasses and rubbing her eyes.

"And this last one?" Beckett asked, marking the flight in black meaning it wasn't significant to their investigation.

"That was last year, and that one was one that I was in," Skye said simply.

"You investigated the accident you were in?" Ryan asked as he, Castle and Esposito walked into the room.

"Unofficially, quite as I'm doing at the moment," Skye said simply, looking down into her mug of tea. "And… it was engine failure, a fan blade cracked and exploded and the flight crew was unable to regain control since the explosion managed to take off the engine itself and ripped out the hydraulics. We went down just outside of San Diego Bay. I survived as did the pilot, but we were in the water, on the wing of the plane for five hours until the Coast Guard was able to find us."

"The airline?" Esposito asked.

"No, that one, was a Kyoto Airlines flight, I'm friends with a lot of the company, they were helpful," Skye said, taking off her glasses and covering her face with her hands. "It was tough though, the pilot; who I know; and I were the only survivors in the end." She looked up at the others who was watching her and said, "There were survivors but… there are sharks in the waters where we were."

"We don't need to add that one," Beckett quickly said to Esposito. "And let's try and get information on those cases; the airlines, see if there's any legal action pertaining to them at all." She then turned to Skye and said, "Were you able to sleep on the flight out?"

Sighing, the investigator stood and looked at Beckett for a moment before she reached for her bag. "I believe this is the point where I'll head back to my hotel. I'm sorry I can't be of more help," she said.

"You've given us some potential leads, besides that agent," Ryan pointed out.

"Whatever I can do to help," Skye said, looking angry for a brief moment.

"Where are you staying?" Beckett asked, walking out with Skye after the investigator had said goodnight to the others.

"The Waldorf," Skye said simply. "At my dad's insistence," she continued quickly at Beckett's surprised glance. "Since he knows I'm not exactly eager to be on the East Coast. Nothing against your city though, I just miss my home and family, and he prefers me to be comfortable as well."

"Alright, Officer Baker is going to escort you to the Waldorf," Beckett said, motioning to the man who walked over to them. "He'll remain outside your door until another officer will relieve him later on tonight."

"Right, thank you Beckett," Skye said, nodding to her. She turned then and walked to the elevator, the officer leading the way.

"She's all set?" Castle asked as Beckett walked back into the room.

"She is," she replied before she stood in front of the board. "Alright, let's get the airlines we made notes next to. Right now they're going to be closed, and I also want one of us to contact the NTSB itself, see what they have to say about these cases. She might have held back any risk to herself or not realized it. We'll call first thing in the morning. And we'll also have, hopefully, some security footage from the Boeing plant."

"What's the story with that FBI agent?" Esposito asked as Ryan got out a notebook and began to note the airlines by using the case reports and the list on the board.

"He's got a flight scheduled tomorrow at one in the afternoon Lisbon time," Beckett said. "So he'll get here about nine in the morning; weather permitting. And once he does get here, they'll allow you two to go to the airport to escort him in."

"We couldn't really find anything on this guy though," Esposito said.

"No, but he's got the ability to do this subtly, and likely has contacts to have an accomplice," Beckett said. "But I don't want to keep with him; Skye seems to think it's someone else."

"She's an interesting… investigator," Ryan said.

"Yeah, you two were talking earlier in that room," Castle said. "What about?"

"She asked me if I was Irish, started to talk to me in Irish but I only know a few words, not enough to reply to what she'd said," Ryan said. "And she also asked about you."

"Why me," Beckett stated absently as she flipped through the pages in a case report.

"Just a few things she's heard about you," Ryan said. "And the main question was about her being able to go to JFK even though you have to guard her basically."

"Sounds like she read that _Cosmo_ article," Esposito said.

"That and she's intimidated by you," Castle said.

"Intimidated," Beckett scoffed. "Really? You think I'm going to do that to a federal investigator?"

"She doesn't really know you," Ryan commented. "So you could tell her that she can still conduct her own investigation, she's just going to be more restricted than she's used to."

"He has a point," Castle said as Beckett looked at the detective for a moment.

"Okay, let's, let's get back to the case we have," she said finally as she set aside the case reports. "And we need to figure out what to do with these, Gates will not want these hanging around the station."

"I doubt Skye would either," Esposito said.

"I'll ask her tomorrow," Beckett said. "Alright, first one I'd like to look at is South Thai Airlines, after that GO Airlines and the third major one is definitely Air Alaska."

"Split it up?" Ryan asked.

"Split it up," Beckett said in agreement. "I'll take Alaska; that one seems to be a little more personal for her. And despite you guys thinking I'm intimidating her, I'm pretty sure she'll find it easier to talk to me."

"What about the first crash she was in?" Ryan asked.

"So she was in two of them," Esposito said. "How the hell did that happen? Aren't you pretty safe in an airplane?"

"She's around them a lot," Castle said. "So I'm sure for her the statistics change… to a degree."

"About that plane crash," Beckett said. "From what I've managed to read about it, it was mechanical and pilot error. I would ask Skye about it, but I'm hesitant to; she'll likely shut down."

"Anything that would point to a possible suspect?" Esposito asked.

"It was a fuel leak, they were flying to LAX, but had to land in Kansas," Beckett said. "And I'm not sure why it was pilot error; it was a little unclear on the details there, something about no brake application. I'm not sure." She sighed slightly and said, "I'll have to try and ask her next time I see her."

"You know, this flight here, the Laos Freight Airlines is one that caught my eye," Ryan then said. "It sounded like what was in the cargo was classified."

"That reminds me, with all this traveling that Skye does," Castle said. "You don't think she could possibly have a hit out on her? She could have offended a government, and they-"

"I doubt it," Beckett said, cutting him off though she wasn't even looking at him. She glanced up at him when he stopped talking and said, "Sorry Castle, no conspiracies, just airlines. And if you're talking about governments, they're the ones that basically ask her into the country to investigate since the investigating parties are run by the government."

"You could have that set aside to look at later if there's nothing else coming to light," Castle said.

"Sure, we'll do that," Beckett replied vaguely, picking up a case report. She flipped through it, and came to a few pictures before she closed it and set it down saying, "It has to do with her career, because that's all she's known and all she's ever really done. And it has to do with one person, if it was a government agent or spy; she would probably be dead by now. Alright, do you have the rest of the names down?" she asked Esposito. When he nodded she said, "Then let's get the board back out, pack everything up and get some rest; we'll be making a lot of phone calls tomorrow."

* * *

Opening the door to his loft, Castle let Beckett walk inside first as he usually did, waiting for the inevitable discovery of their return as he locked the door behind him.

"Mommy!" Julia cried as she jumped down from the couch where she was playing with her two Stitch dolls.

"Hey sweetie," Beckett said with a smile as she set down her bag and took her daughter into her arms, hugging her quickly. "You didn't let me take off my coat."

"Sorry, I missed you Mommy, I didn't think you were gonna come home," Julia said eagerly, hopping from one foot to the other as she waited.

When she finally had her coat, scarf and gloves off, Becket picked Julia up and shared a kiss with her asking, "How was your day at school?" Before her daughter could answer, she let Julia lean over and share a quick hug with Castle before she walked over to the couch to sit with her.

"Sorry if we're later today," Castle was saying to his mother as she walked over to him. "We're not too late right?" he asked as he looked at his watch.

"No, no, still another half hour before Kate wanted her asleep," Martha said. "I saw you two on the news this afternoon."

"Yeah, she's got a protection assignment," Castle said, watching Beckett and Julia on the couch. "Beckett, I'll get some soup alright."

"Go ahead," she replied, waving her hand before her daughter took her attention.

Using that as a cover, Castle took his mother over to the kitchen and hurriedly explained their case and Beckett's assignment.

"You went to a plane crash?" Martha asked in surprise when he'd finished.

"It wasn't pretty," Castle said as he busied himself with preparing dinner for him and Beckett. "But that's where she was when we met her."

"How morbid you had to go through all those cases," Martha then said. "And she's investigated all of them?"

"It's not much different from what we do," Beckett said, walking over to them as Julia was on the couch still. "Just one major difference and that's the amount of victims of course. But… I'm hoping we don't have to visit another site like that again."

"I'll agree with you there," Castle said. "Wine?"

"Please," Beckett replied immediately. After he'd gotten them a glass; and refilled his mother's; they sat down at the table and she pulled her daughter onto her lap. "Is this your homework?" she asked as she saw the sheets of paper her daughter was setting on the table.

"Yeah, Martha helped me today," Julia said. "But will you check it?"

"Of course," Beckett said, kissing her temple. "But let me eat dinner because I'm starving."

For a while Castle and Beckett were quiet as they ate, but Julia then peppered them with questions about what they'd done at work that day. She did that all the time, and as was their normal response, her mother and Castle easily skated over any details; enough to keep her satisfied that nothing bad had happened at work to them.

After they had finished eating, and while he was taking care of the bowls and glasses, Castle listened in as Beckett and Julia talked about the little girl's homework. "Everything set?" he asked as Beckett helped her daughter down to the floor.

"It is," Beckett said, watching Julia hurry up the stairs to put away the papers. She looked over at Castle as he sat next to her again, looking down at his tablet and she smiled when she saw the website he was looking at. "Are you serious about that?"

"Why not?" Castle asked. "They are fascinating and some of these models have interesting paint jobs."

"Livery," Beckett said as Julia; having come back down the stairs; ran over to her and clambered back up on her lap. "It's called a livery."

"Did you know that already or was it from Skye?" Castle asked as Julia leaned over to look at the screen.

"Are you getting a plane?" Julia asked.

"Maybe," Castle said. "I was thinking about getting one of them, and seeing how it looks in my office. Why don't you help me pick one out?"

"Kay," Julia said before she was transferred to his lap. She watched as he looked through some models and then she stopped him by saying, "That one, it's prettiest."

"Korean Air, nice," Castle said as he opened a larger picture of what she was pointing out. "What do you think of your daughter's choice?" he asked Beckett.

"Helicopters, tanks, trains," Martha said. "And now planes, what else Richard?'

"These don't fly, they're meant for… decoration I guess," Castle said, looking at Beckett who merely shrugged.

"Alright, well I believe I will head upstairs. I have a few plays that I might like to take with me to my class, and I think they're best read alone with a nice merlot," Martha said. "So I will say goodnight, goodnight Julia, Richard, Kate."

"Goodnight Mother," Castle said as his mother hugged Julia before going up the stairs. He glanced at Beckett, and smiled when she stood up saying, "I think it's your turn to go to bed too," to the little girl.

Letting out a huff, Julia allowed herself to be picked up by her mother, and as they were going up the stairs she played wither her mother's pendant, twirling her fingers around it a few times as she liked to do before they were inside Alexis' room. "We talked to Alexis today," she told her mother as she was put on the bed.

"I'll talk to her soon, she's in class right now," Castle said, looking at his watch and trying to remember his daughter's schedule along with changing the time to the time at Berkley. "How is she?"

"Good, she said it's foggy all over and you would like it," Julia said as she sat up to hug him.

"I probably would," Castle said, kissing her cheek before she kissed his back. "Sweet dreams Julia."

"Thank you," Julia giggled slightly before she lay back down as mother sat next to her. She sighed and said, "I'm sleepy Mommy."

"You must have had a pretty fun ballet class today," Beckett said, slightly surprised at that. "But I'm glad to hear you'll go to sleep no problem tonight." She leaned over then and hugged Julia before sharing a kiss with her and kissing her forehead. That done, she tucked her daughter in and said, "Goodnight Julia, I love you."

"Love you," Julia sighed, a sleepy smile on her face as she held her Stitch dolls to her and snuggled down under the covers more.

Castle preceded Beckett out of the room, and stood just behind her, watching as she turned off the lights and then closed the door. "Would you like some more wine, or are you ready to turn in?" he asked as they went down the stairs.

"I think I'm good with wine, but not ready for bed myself yet," Beckett said. "Though if you wanted to share a glass I don't think I'd be adverse to it."

"Great, I'll grab something light," Castle said, heading to the wine cooler.

Before he could grab a bottle, Beckett was startled when her phone started to ring, and hurriedly grabbed it from the table. She didn't recognize the number, so she answered it with a cautious, "Beckett."

Castle turned when he heard his fiancée say, "Who is this?" Seeing the expression on her face, he walked over to her and when she put the phone to speaker, heard whoever it was saying, "…not that dense, I said… gone…"

"Who's gone?" Beckett asked.

"…McDouglas…" the voice said, most of the message riddled with static.

"Oh god," Beckett said as the caller hung up on a laugh broken by static. She quickly went to her contacts, and dialed Skye's which she'd saved earlier. "Pick up," she said impatiently after the phone rang three times. When Skye's voicemail message began, she hung up, dialed again, but the same thing happened. "I need to call Officer Baker," she said.

"I can keep trying," Castle said. When Beckett handed him Skye's card, he hurriedly dialed the number, but only got the woman's voicemail as Beckett had as well.

"He's not answering. Damn it, we need to go," Beckett said after she'd called the officer twice.

"Mother," Castle said, running up the stairs to her room and knocking on her door. "I'm sorry," he said after she had stepped out. "There's an emergency and we have to go."

"Go, I'll take care of Julia," Martha said, a little startled at her son's rushed demeanor.

Hurrying back down, Castle joined Beckett in putting his outer layers back on, and as soon as she was ready; her gun transferred to her hip from her bag; they ran together out the door, barely checking on it closing behind them.


	5. Won't Let Me Fly

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song Hong Kong Blues, written by Hoagy Carmichael, but the version I took this from is sung by George Harrison, from his album Somewhere In England.

"Detective?" Officer Baker said as he caught sight of Beckett walking rapidly down the hall with Castle behind her.

"I've tried to contact you," Beckett said before she had reached the man.

"The hotel asked me to turn off my phone and walkie-talkie," the officer said. "So there wouldn't be any disturbance to the guests."

"Fine, is she alright?" Beckett asked shortly.

"I'm not sure," Officer Baker said before he looked past Castle and reached for his gun.

Turning, Castle saw a hotel employee was walking down the hall with a cart, a tray with a tea service on it. "Room 739?" he asked the man when he was close.

"Yes, is anything wrong?" the man said.

"Henry?" Beckett asked, seeing his name tag. When he nodded she said, "Do you have a key to this room?"

"A master key, yes," Henry said simply. "But I can't really barge through-"

Turning to the door, Beckett knocked on it as loudly as she could, not caring at that moment about the other guests. She paused, letting at least a minute go by before she knocked for a second time, leaning in close to the door to hear any movement inside. "Okay, open it," she told the employee as she held out her badge in case he needed an extra incentive.

Though he looked to be a little unsure still, Henry slid his card through the lock on the door, but before he could open it, Beckett's hand grabbed the doorknob.

"Stay here please," she told him. She withdrew her gun, and once Castle had the door for her, she stepped inside calling, "Skye?" There was no answer as she walked into what was a small entryway, and going through that she had to turn a corner to the main room of the suite.

Looking up from the table where she was sitting, Skye jumped up in shock seeing a gun pointed at her. When Beckett stopped suddenly at seeing her, Castle hurrying in after her, she said angrily, "What-" when the two jumped a little at volume of her voice. She made an annoyed sound and tore off her headphones which had been covering her ears completely, and said, "What the bloody hell is going on?"

"I've been calling you," Beckett said, quickly putting away her gun. "I got a threatening call, that you were gone and I tried calling you."

"We both did," Castle said. "But now we know why you weren't answering."

"Though wouldn't you be able to see it ringing?" Beckett asked.

"If I had it here on the table with me," Skye said in frustration as she turned to the credenza that was behind her. As she checked her calls she saw that Castle and Beckett were looking at each other a little awkwardly and she said, "How did you get in by the way? You didn't kick down the door perchance?"

"There was a bellman… bringing some tea," Castle said. "Should I tell him it's alright to bring it in?"

"Please," Skye said before Beckett could reply. "I am sorry," she then directed to Beckett herself. "I was preparing for bed when I received a copy of the recordings from Center. You can sit if you like," she finished hurriedly as Castle walked back inside with Henry.

"And there hasn't been anything suspicious going on?" Beckett asked as she took a seat next to the chair Skye had been sitting in.

"Not as far as I'm aware," Skye said simply. "Outside?"

"I asked Officer Baker, he said no," Castle said before Beckett could say anything.

Taking out her phone, Beckett placed a call to the Precinct and spoke quickly with the officer who picked up. After directing him to trace the number that had called her, she hung up and said, "It's probably another burner phone, but-"

"Oh shit," Skye said in annoyance. She looked up and paused when she saw Castle and Beckett were both looking at her. "My apologies, but my wife called, about twenty minutes ago; three times. I'm going to need to call her back or I am in trouble. Excuse me. Help yourself to some tea if you've a mind to." She quickly picked up a twenty on the table and gave it to Henry before hurrying for the bedroom, closing the door behind her.

Standing up then, Beckett quickly went to the door and was about to knock at it when Skye opened it. "I need to-" she began.

"Yeah, check the room, I forget you're supposed to do that, go ahead," Skye said, stepping aside.

Walking through the room, Beckett had to sidestep a pair of boots that she glanced at before focusing on the curtains covering the main window of the room. Parting them, she checked to make sure it was locked before going into the bathroom to glance over that room.

"Did you check under the bed?" Castle asked, standing in the doorway.

Beckett looked over at him as Skye did the same and said, "You honestly think he was hiding there?"

"So it is a man?" Skye asked. "And there's no under the bed," she said quickly before Beckett could look. "I looked inside my closet and nothing there."

"It is a man, and I think that's the information we need on the number," Beckett said as her phone started to ring. She left the room with Castle following as she answered it and began speaking to the officer on the other end.

As she was talking, Castle motioned to the tea service when she was looking at him. Once she nodded he poured out a couple cups of the tea before sitting down to wait for her to finish. "A third burner?" he asked when she had hung up.

"Like I said before," Beckett said, sitting down with a sigh.

"He knows you're protecting her," Castle said. "And he wants to taunt you. But how did he get your personal number?"

"It's listed with the Precinct, so he must have posed as… someone," Beckett began to say before she stopped.

"What if he was coming forward with information?" Castle said, quickly picking up on what she had realized.

"And told whoever took the call that he could only speak with me? It would work," Beckett said. "And if he also stated he was in fear of his safety then he could also lie about a name."

"Or not give one at all," Castle said. "So he's trying to get us to be afraid of him, to be frustrated with him."

"Maybe he thinks we'll make a mistake at some point," Beckett said. She had walked over to the table, and was looking at a drawing in the middle, of a British Airways 747.

"That's probably the plan," Castle said. "Have us second guessing suspects and when we let our guard down, he goes after her," he said, gesturing to the closed door. "Did you manage to see her boots?" he asked as Beckett was taking a sip from her cup.

"I know, I almost tripped over them," she replied. "I've never seen Windsors like that before though."

"That's because I had them custom made," Skye said, having come out in time to hear that. "Sorry, I finished up with Mary, who's none too pleased at my taking so long."

"You didn't tell her you got new evidence?" Castle asked.

"I did, and she's used to my doing that, but still, it doesn't mean she has to like it," Skye replied as she poured herself some tea. "As she told me. I swear I was going to get some rest, but this is pretty big," she then directed to Beckett as she sat. "We're hoping it might give us some insight as to whether or not they were aware of their decent. It could very well turn out to be ATC error."

"You don't sound so sure," Castle said as they were watching the investigator as she looked at her laptop screen.

"That's more Peter's theory, not mine," Skye said. "I see you noticed my plane."

"You drew this?" Beckett asked as Castle leaned over to see the picture.

"I did, BA actually asked me to design a set of planes for them, the livery I mean, and that's the first one that's been finished. I was supposed to come here to NYC anyways, to christen it," Skye said.

Looking at the tail, which had a pattern of roses in white, red and the two colors combined going down to the fuselage, Castle said, "The Tudor rose?"

"Good eye, yes, they wanted patterns on the tails dealing with England, Scotland and Wales," Skye said. "I chose the first plane's tail to have the Tudor rose as that was a big deal in our history of course."

"That would explain your accent," Castle commented as Beckett was looking through the drawings below the first.

"I was born in Santa Monica and raised there. But you have to remember, my father and dad were both British with heavy accents, so I took that on as well," Skye said. "But Detect… damn it, Beckett, excuse me," she then said, quickly correcting herself. "Do you think maybe-"

"The killer was waiting for you to come here to NYC for the christening?" Beckett asked. When the investigator nodded she said, "It could be. When were you supposed to come out here?"

"The seventeenth of next month," Skye said. "But I got a call from BA, after they heard what happened and considering I'm here, they want me to take the plane out on its maiden flight whenever this case is finished instead."

"So the crash just pushed the killer's plans ahead of schedule," Castle said. "Otherwise this would be happening next month."

"It's likely, it would explain how the hell he could have stolen the winglets so far ahead in advance of a plane crash," Beckett said with a nod. "It wasn't the crash that he was waiting for, it was the christening flight."

"If I'll be taking it at all," Skye said, looking back at her screen.

"Yeah, what exactly do you mean by christen the flight?" Castle asked.

"It means I'll be the first passenger on the 747; you noticed the planes are all 747s, they gave me their new 747-8s to design," Skye said. "Since that was my father's plane; well, the 747-100 to 200 to be more exact. But it's flying to JFK from Heathrow with just the crew, and I'll be flying from here to LAX."

"Quite an honor," Beckett said.

"If you're wondering why it's because the current President of the Board at BA flew with my father for six years from LAX, to JFK, to Heathrow and back," Skye said. "It's more out of respect for my father that a lot of people are the way they are around me."

"Not the people at the NTSB, or Congress," Castle pointed out.

"You're correct, that respect I earned for myself," Skye conceded.

"It's why you push yourself," Beckett said.

Looking at her, Skye smiled slightly and then looked back to her laptop saying, "You noticed that in the papers about me?"

"And I just picked it up from watching the way you investigate your case," Beckett said.

"Hopefully I'm not investigating so much it's to my detriment; without me even realizing it," Skye said. "Since I had to work that out with my…"

"Something wrong?" Beckett asked, picking up on her tone of voice as she trailed off suddenly.

"I'm not really certain," Skye said slowly. "Would you mind if I played this, I think I might have a clue."

"Go ahead," Beckett said. She was surprised when the woman pulled the plug of her headphones out of her laptop, and a moment later the loud recording of an air traffic controller played in the room. She glanced at Castle next to her, and sat back as he shrugged. Listening idly to the conversation between multiple planes and one woman; who she assumed was the controller; she was a little startled to hear the call sign of the plane Skye was investigating, but the message was drowned out by a long burst of silence.

"What was that?" Castle asked, sitting up.

"You heard that?" Skye said. When both Beckett and Castle nodded she played that section again, then hurriedly typed and then touched the screen before playing it a third time.

A little surprised at the expletive that escaped the investigator's mouth then, as the silence was more defined but it was still silence, Castle said, "That's not normal?"

"Not to that degree," Skye said, picking up her phone.

Looking on as the woman spoke with Peter King on the other end, Beckett listened to Skye's half of the conversation in Welsh. "Is it not a clue?" she asked when the investigator had hung up, her forehead resting on her hand.

"It's something I don't know what to make of," Skye said cautiously. She stood up and grabbed some papers on top of the credenza and put them on the table. Unrolling one she said quickly, "Sorry," as Castle and Beckett had to pick up their cups to avoid them being covered.

"Should we… go?" Castle asked, sharing a look with Beckett.

"Whatever you want to do," Skye said absently. "I just want to take a look at something…" After a moment she looked over at the two and saw that Castle was peering at the paper. "It's the electrics schematic for the Boeing 737-800."

"Is that what caused that radio silence, the electronics system?" Beckett asked.

"It could be but the problem is figuring out what that has to do with the crash, if anything," Skye said. She finally shook her head and sat down saying, "I'll need to see the plane itself… well, photographs I mean."

Remembering what she had been talking about with the others in the Precinct earlier that night, Beckett quickly said, "Actually, if you need to head to JFK, then I can escort you."

"I'd hate to do that," Skye replied, though she looked cautiously hopeful. "You do have an investigation yourself."

"It's not a problem," Castle said before Beckett glanced at him. "Well, we don't really have much we're waiting for…" he started to say quickly before he realized what he'd been about to tell the investigator and he trailed off uncomfortably.

"You know, the funny thing with you tiptoeing around the subject of Agent Luis, is that I realized you had him in your sights pretty much as soon as you spoke to Peter," Skye said, making a circle on the schematic with a pencil. "I had the feeling that you'd ask him about Agent Luis and everything that had happened with him. And that he'd maybe give you more detail than I did when I told you about him."

"The way Inspector King was talking, it was a touchy subject," Beckett said, not really shocked that Skye had figured that out.

"For the NTSB it is, for me I like to brush it off as if I dwell on it I'm liable to go absolutely barmy," Skye replied. "But to tell you the honest truth, I don't think Agent Luis has the ability to do this. And since you said you're waiting for him, I take it he's not even in the country?"

"In Lisbon," Beckett said.

"He'll be angry when he's brought in," Skye warned. "And I'll bet you anything he'll try and turn things around during your interrogation that it was my fault somehow that Lenora and Olivia got killed."

"I'll keep that in mind," Beckett said. "But back to the subject of JFK."

"Yes, well, if you really don't have any problems escorting me to the hangar, then I would greatly appreciate it," Skye said. "There's only so much I can do with pictures and recordings. I need the plane in front of me. Especially with this," she said with a sigh.

"What about the black boxes?" Castle asked as Skye set aside the schematic on the credenza and sat back down.

"Tomorrow," Skye said, touching her screen a few times before lowering the top of her laptop. "So, you've read the information about me, I can imagine there's something you'd like to ask." When she saw the expressions on Beckett and Castle's faces she said quickly, "I've made my career trying to observe people to the best of my ability. I have a sort of… sixth sense if you'd like to call it that, for this. Plus I know my information that is available isn't that detailed."

"Is there a reason for that?" Beckett asked.

Thinking for a moment, Skye said simply, "One thing you need to know about me, when I survived that crash as a child, I became more introverted than I already was. I'd grown up with no mother, I had no father. I was lucky I had my dad or I'd be a raving mess by now. But I've kept things to myself for a long time, I like my privacy. My wife says it's a matter of not wanting the pity that accompanies my being a survivor and an orphan. I've tried to make my way in the world without that and having to face my past is uncomfortable to me. But it might cost me my life if I keep that up. So please, ask what you will, I will respond as best I feel comfortable answering."

"Your father was a pilot; were there ever any accidents or incidents that he was involved with in his career that might have earned him an enemy?" Beckett asked.

"That's a good question," Skye said. She thought it over for a moment and then said, "I think there was someone from the AAIB… the Air Accidents Investigation Branch; the UK's aviation NTSB. He had a problem with my father while they were investigating a series of BAC planes that were losing engine power. He nearly suppressed my father's testimony when that happened way back when he was still a co-pilot. Turned out he didn't like my father because he was living in America instead of the UK. He was reprimanded for that but that's all I can recall. To tell you the truth, most of the people my father worked with have passed away or aren't able to really do something like this. And then there's the fact they're pretty much all in the UK."

"I'll still look into that," Beckett said. "Do you mind?" she asked as she took a pad of paper from the hotel and a pen. When Skye made a vague gesture with her hand she quickly wrote down her father's name and AAIB investigation under it. "What about your mother," she asked a little hesitantly.

"It's alright," Skye quickly said. "To ask about her. She worked with Boeing until she married my father, and then she went to LAX to work as the junior security administrator. Which was a big deal as she was only the second woman to hold that position at the airport. There she might have gotten into a tussle with someone. But I really don't know all that much about my mother, my father never liked to talk about her. I think it was enough I looked almost the same as her."

"I noticed that," Beckett said, making another note on her paper.

"Is that why you tend to work on cases involving Boeings?" Castle asked.

"Slightly," Skye said. "I know pretty much about all the models and types, but Boeing's always held a special fascination for me."

"Alright," Beckett said. "One last question. Are you absolutely sure that besides Agent Luis there's no one who would hold a grudge against you. And with the way evidence in my investigation is going right now, I'm talking about personal life as well as your professional one."

"I wasn't lying before when I was talking about my career," Skye said, crossing her arms. "I honestly have never paid attention to any anger towards me, towards my findings. And as for personally…" she sighed deeply before continuing. "Nothing comes to mind. I'm sure you looked into if I've ever had charges filed against me, or me filing against someone myself."

"We did, and your record's clean besides Agent Luis," Beckett said.

"There you have it. Did you ever think about this being someone who I don't know at all?" Skye asked.

"That occurred to me," Castle said, looking at Beckett.

"Yeah, that _Time_ article set that thought into my head," she said, glancing at Castle as she knew they were both thinking of Scott Dunn. "But I think what that kind of killer would be more apt to do is to taunt you directly."

"Trying to contact me instead of you, something like that?" Skye suggested.

"Something like that," Beckett agreed. "But we have three phone numbers, we could maybe track them down, and tomorrow we'll hopefully have Agent Luis in custody."

"Alright," Skye said. "Listen D- Beckett, I'm wondering about my case now. I'll be going back one more time on the recording from Center and see if I can monitor their decent rate after the instance of radio silence. If I can, I need to head out to Boeing's offices outside JFK and I need to do it early."

"How early?" Beckett asked as they all stood up.

"Early enough I will be going with whoever's taking shift outside my door tomorrow," Skye said. "I'd like you to meet me there… or the same officer can escort me to the station, I leave that to you."

"We'll meet you there," Beckett said. She could feel Castle's surprised look but then said, "Do I just ask for you?"

"Yes, they'll know me there," Skye said as Castle began to walk to the door and she and Beckett followed.

"Can I ask one last question?" Castle said as he paused at the door and turned to the two women.

"I doubt there'd be much chance of stopping you, so go ahead," Skye said.

"Are you sure there aren't any… governments that have gotten angry with your findings in other countries? That might have sent…" Castle began to say.

"Spies or assassins? Okay, so from that question I gather it's something that gets floated around often for you?" Skye asked Beckett.

"Pretty much," she answered.

"Very well, Castle, I have been invited personally by the investigative agency in each country that I've investigated in, usually run by the government," Skye said. "And sometimes, more than once, three times in Japan actually. There have been chances for someone to assassinate me, but no one ever tried."

"So the killer's local," Castle stated.

"Mostly likely," Beckett said.

"Hmm, that explains your sabotage theories earlier when you were helping me with the weights," Skye said, shaking her head slightly. "Kept popping them off as if I'd take any with any degree of seriousness. Oh don't worry," she said when she saw his slightly irritated expression. "I know you're trying to help but in this case… I think it wouldn't really apply to an airplane, you're in a far better area working with her than me."

"He could always surprise you," Beckett said then. "Alright, Skye, be careful, keep your door and windows locked securely, and we'll see you at Boeing tomorrow morning. If you leave before we arrive please contact me."

"Of course, thank you for checking on me. I apologize for not answering," Skye said as Castle opened the door for them.

"It's fine, but now I hope you'll keep your phone on you," Beckett said.

"At all times, goodnight Beckett, Castle," Skye said.

After they'd said goodnight to the woman, Beckett spoke quickly to Officer Baker, and then followed Castle down the hall saying, "What did I tell you about conspiracies Castle?"

"What? It didn't hurt to ask," he said, shrugging.

Sighing Becket pressed the button for the elevators and said, "You're lucky I'm taking you to Boeing tomorrow."

"Yeah, how come?" Castle said. "And why am I going by the way?"

"Because I'll never get you to stop asking me what it's like there unless I do," Beckett said, smiling as Castle gave her a quick, sheepish shrug of his shoulders before she stepped into the elevator car ahead of him. She turned to him as he walked inside saying, "For now; let's get back home."

* * *

"I've got a really weird sense of déjà vu," Castle said as they walked into his loft.

"Well, let's hope we don't get another call, or else this is going to feel like _Groundhog Day_ ," Beckett said.

"You okay?" Castle asked.

"I'm fine, just wondering how I would have explained it to the senator if Skye had ended up being harmed or worse tonight," Beckett said.

"Or the President," Castle said.

"Thank you, yes, that's even worse," Beckett said, shaking her head. She rubbed her forehead and said, "I'm going to take a shower and go to bed before I strangle you for that comment."

"I'm sorry," Castle said seriously, feeling guilty.

Looking over at him, Beckett smiled slightly and stepped closer to him, kissing him on the lips gently before saying, "It's alright, it's just been a little stressful today."

"I could join you, give you a massage," Castle suggested, not sure if she would really go for that.

"Not tonight," Beckett said simply. "Call your daughter," she reminded him. She looked at her watch and said, "It's only eight there."

"Right," Castle said before he watched her walk into his room. He went to his office once she was out of sight, and took out his phone before he heard bare feet running into the kitchen. He glanced up, and saw that it was Julia, trying to climb up on the bottom shelf of a cabinet. "Hey," he said, going out to her hurriedly before she could get up on the next shelf. He picked her up and said, "How come you're awake?"

"I'm thirsty," Julia said, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Why are you?"

"I haven't gone to bed yet," Castle said, smiling for a moment at her slightly challenging tone of voice. "Let me get you some water though, okay?"

"Is my mommy asleep?" Julia asked as she held onto him while he carried her around the kitchen.

"Not yet, she's taking a shower," Castle answered absently. "Do you want to see her?"

"Please," Julia said as Castle walked to the couch and sat down before she took the glass he held out to her.

Watching as the little girl drank the water slowly; Castle ran his hand down her hair to smooth it out and took the glass when she was finished. "Better?" he asked. When she nodded and leaned against him he couldn't help but remember the past month since he had proposed to Beckett and they had agreed on him adopting her daughter. He had kept to her idea of spending time with Julia on his own, and he liked to think it had made the little girl trust him even more. He was a little lost in thought, but he heard her speaking and he quickly looked down at her asking, "What's wrong?"

"Can I see her now?" Julia asked.

"Let's she if she's finished yet," Castle said as he stood. He walked into his room, remembering he still had to call his daughter, but he pushed the thought aside as he saw Beckett was coming out of the bathroom.

"Julia, why are you up?" Beckett said in surprise as she saw them.

"I was thirsty, Castle gave me some water," Julia said, kicking her legs until he stopped and put her down. She ran to her mother and wrapped her arms around her tightly before she was picking her up.

"I'm glad he did, but come on, you need to go back to bed and sleep," Beckett told her.

"Thank you," Julia said from over her mother's shoulder as she carried her out of the room.

"You're welcome, goodnight again Julia," Castle said with a slight smile as he watched them go up the stairs. He then reached for his pocket and his phone, that time determined to make the call.

Once she was sure that Julia was asleep in Alexis' room, Beckett leaned down and kissed her daughter's forehead tenderly before standing up with a slight sigh. Leaving the room, she headed back down and saw that her fiancé was on the phone, so she merely caught his eye before heading into his room. Pulling off her robe, she slid onto the bed but sat up against the headboard instead of trying to get some sleep. She grabbed her tablet which she'd left there the night before, and went on the internet, searching for something. She became so involved, that she almost jumped as Castle closed the door behind him a while later.

"Porn?" he said, gesturing to her tablet with his chin. When she gave him a look he said defensively, "The way you reacted when I walked in I didn't know what else had you so enthralled." He walked to her side of the bed and sat down on the edge. Trying to lean over to peek at the screen he asked, "My Valentine's Day gift?"

"No, that's been taken care of already," Beckett said. "And no hints, nothing like that," she said firmly as he started to open his mouth to speak. "I'm actually looking for Julia's gift."

"Do you really need to buy her something?" Castle asked as she gave the tablet to him so he could see. "Although this is cute," he said, seeing it was a new outfit for ballet practice.

"She needs one," Beckett said. "She's grown a lot taller since last May when I started measuring her. But this won't be her gift, it's a necessity."

"Are you going to keep marking the little chart you have month by month?" Castle asked.

"No, just until March and she turns five," Beckett replied, quickly pressing the screen enough times until she had ordered the outfit. "Then it'll be on her birthdays. But I have a dress I'm going to give her along with a vase with little rosebuds. I thought it would be cute, and a decoration to use even when the roses are gone."

"How is she about passing out valentines?" Castle asked then as he started to unbutton his left cuff.

"She's still unsure about giving them to the boys in her class, but I told her it doesn't mean you necessarily like them," Beckett said, setting aside the tablet. "But she's picking out the ones in the set that are the least romantic."

"That's saying a lot," Castle said, letting her take over for him and getting the button out of the slit in the light blue fabric. "Since there's nothing overtly romantic with kid's valentines; especially with Lilo and Stitch on them."

"I know, but she wants to make sure," Beckett said.

"I thought she was friends with a couple of the boys in the class by now," Castle said as he looked at her.

"Which she is, but at that age, there's still that belief in cooties so she's not really interested in anything but being on the playground with boys and roughhousing," Beckett said with a smile.

"I still have that belief," Castle said.

"How exactly does that work?" Beckett asked with a laugh, shaking her head. "All the stuff we do and you honestly believe that."

"I… oh I see, you're being sarcastic," Castle began and then stopped when he realized what her tone of voice had been. "Alright, I don't, but, do you think I should talk to her about that?"

"The valentines?" Beckett asked. When he nodded she thought for a moment and then said, "That's not a bad idea, but, you should really not make it a serious discussion. They're only valentines after all."

"She does know that if she's going to do any kind of Ballroom or Latin dances she'll likely have to dance with a boy right?" Castle asked.

"She's aware, but what she's seen of those dances is that she doesn't have to be in love with her partner," Beckett said, smiling. "Only that they get along enough to dance well; she just wants to dance."

"Right, I'll try and talk to her tomorrow, if not I still have some time before her class's party," Castle said.

"Good now you've got that settled, how's Alexis?" Beckett then asked.

"Doing pretty well, she filled me in on her weekend," Castle said. "It's when she talks about that that I have to wonder if she's going to Berkley more for the school or San Francisco."

"Most likely both," Beckett said in amusement. "What did she do this time?"

"Diana took her to park again, they visited the zoo," Castle said. "Diana's cousins drove up from San Jose apparently, and she took them all to the zoo since besides her none of them have been there before."

"How was it?" Beckett asked.

"Pretty nice," Castle said. "She did say it's small, so it let them visit the Japanese Tea Garden too. She told me to tell you she really wants to take Julia both places."

"We'll have to include them on the list," Beckett said with a nod. "I did want to take her to the zoo actually. And Sunday?"

"She went on her own to the Legion of Honor Museum in Lincoln Park. She said it's the museum in _Vertigo_ ," Castle said, looking at her questioningly to see if she remembered.

"I remember, where that painting was of Carlotta," Beckett said easily. "As many times as we've watched Hitchcock's movies together I definitely can't forget."

"Did you ever go?" Castle asked as he began to unbutton his other cuff.

"No, like I've said every time you ask me that," Beckett said, taking his wrist and starting to undo the button. "I haven't had that much experience with the city. By the time we go in a couple months, your daughter will know more than I did, a lot more."

"Is Julia still asking when we'll go?" Castle asked.

"At least a few times a week," Beckett said. "I keep forgetting to make her a calendar to count down to that."

"And her birthday?" Castle said.

"She's eager but apparently more so for the trip," Beckett said. She smiled again when she saw his confused expression at that and said, "I asked her about that and she thinks we're going to be celebrating her birthday on the trip."

"We could," Castle pointed out to her. "But still have the party the seventeenth."

"That doesn't make any sense," Beckett said.

"I could buy her something special over there," Castle said. "Maybe a sea lion…"

"You need to be very careful you don't spoil her," Beckett said, shaking her head as she knew he was joking. "And really Castle, I think she's well on her way to thinking of you as her father."

"I know, and I hope so, since I can't really ask her that right out," Castle said.

"No, but, I hope you would trust me when I say that I know my daughter well, and with the way I see her act around you, she trusts you," Beckett said firmly.

"Like her grandfather?" Castle asked.

"To a certain degree," Beckett conceded. "But it's a little different; he's her relative you're not quite to the point where you're related to her. So once you are, you'll be able to notice a change in her demeanor towards you. More than she's changed already."

"There are times I really wish I was her father now," Castle said, not surprised she had worded it that way. She seemed to shy away from saying the words marriage, husband and father when she was talking about him and their relationship in the future. He knew it wasn't so much she was afraid of taking that step, but not wanting to remind herself they were still waiting.

"You are, it's just… this is a very strange place we're in right now," Beckett said. "But things will work; they seem to in the end."

"That's true," Castle said. "When can I take her out again?"

"I was thinking this weekend," Beckett said. "Lanie wants to go out for some dinner and drinks."

"Great, how about I take her to a show?" Castle said.

"Depends on the show," Beckett said. She then looked at him and asked, " _Annie_ again?"

"She loves it and I honestly have a hard time saying no to her," Castle said.

"Alright, but sometime next month, I plan on buying tickets for the three of us," Beckett said.

"To see what?" Castle asked.

"I'm not saying, because I know as soon as I tell you, you'll get us seats as close to the stage as possible," Beckett said. "Which I do appreciate and so does Julia, but I would like to take care of that myself once Castle."

Raising his hands Castle then said, "Fine, but tell me the show."

"What did I just say?" Beckett said, surprised at his request.

"No, I mean tell me the show, and tomorrow I'll make reservations to Serendipty for after and I'll treat you two to dinner there," Castle said.

Sighing, though she was smiling slightly, Beckett then said, " _The Lion King_."

"Great, she'll love that one," Castle said.

"Do we have a deal?" Beckett asked, holding out her hand to him.

"We do, I'll take care of dinner, you take care of the show," Castle said before he took her hand and they shook on it. He was tempted to pull her closer to him suddenly as he picked up on the scent of her body from her shower and it sent an instant reaction through him; but she slipped her hand from his grasp before he could do so. "So, how was your shower?" he asked suddenly after they were quiet for a while.

"Fine," Beckett said, looking at him a little suspiciously.

"Relaxed?" he then asked.

"Sort of," Beckett said slowly. She wasn't too surprised when Castle suddenly leaned over and kissed her, she was able to respond to it quickly; but what did take her aback was when he pulled the covers over her lap down her legs. She tried to stop him and pulled away from him, trying to remind him she had wanted to get some sleep.

When he'd tugged the covers as far as they would go, Castle kissed Beckett again, and that time slipped his hand under her shirt she was wearing to sleep, sliding his hand over her abdomen and around her waist. He could feel her shuddering in pleasure under his touch, and he deepened their kiss.

Needing to breathe, Beckett pulled away, but found herself sliding down onto the bed on her back as his lips were brushing over her neck, searching for something. When his teeth suddenly bit on her pulse she arched her back and with a slight groan that was sort of in defeat as well as pleasure, said, "I didn't mean this when I said I wanted to relax."

Not saying anything for a moment, Castle let his hand slide up to her chest, where he carefully thumbed her nipple before whispering into her ear, "I know, but I don't really want to stop. If you said to me, stop, I would Kate."

Breathing in roughly, Beckett looked on as he slid his hand from under her shirt to cup her breast gently through it, his thumb tracing around her nipple. In response to his question, she pulled him up to her lips, and they kissed one another at the same time before she sat up enough to help him remove her shirt. "Bastard," she said jokingly, with a smile, their lips pressed up against one another as soon as she was naked from the waist up. "You know I can't now."

"That was my plan," Castle said, smiling against hers. He grabbed her hand that was on his cheek and laid her back on the bed, his lips crushing hers intensely as their bodies automatically pressed against each other; searching for one another already.


	6. While You Attack, Create Offense

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song This Guitar (Can't Keep from Crying) by George Harrison, from his album Extra Texture (Read All about It).

"Alright, I've gone through as many scenarios as I can. If I work out anymore I'll be here through the day and I need to check out the engines. But I do have some time… I think I'll take a quick flight to relax," Skye was saying, standing outside of a flight simulator with a Boeing employee. "They haven't arrived yet have they?"

"No, how fast and anything with that flight?" the employee asked, walking with her down to another simulator.

"About ten… oh, good morning Beckett, Castle," Skye began before she looked down the walkway and saw the two heading for her. "Never mind," she directed to the employee. "I'll be-"

"Able to catch that flight, but what about a shorter trip?" Beckett asked.

"Really?" Skye asked. "You… don't need to head to your station?"

"No, and I have some things I need to show you," Beckett said. "If this makes you more relaxed, then by all means."

"Alright, LAX _por favor_ Carlos, and I'll be flying to Ontario, circling around and heading back," Skye said, sounding pleased.

"Ontario, Canada?" Castle asked as the man walked past him and Beckett.

"Ontario, California," Skye said as she reached for the handle on the door. "Wait, Carlos," she called out to the man. "Smooth flight all around, chamber of commerce day please." When he'd nodded, she opened the door and stepped inside saying, "I'm surprised you're letting me do this."

"We're waiting at this point in the investigation," Beckett said as she and Castle followed her. "I thought there'd be a bench or some seats for us," she said in surprise as she looked around the mock up of a cockpit.

"This is awesome, what is this?" Castle asked, looking around the flight engineer's instruments.

"This is a 747-300 flight deck," Skye said as the screen of the windows turned on. "And what I'm certified to fly."

"I was a little surprised to find out you're a pilot," Castle said as he and Beckett watched the investigator take off her NTSB jacket and drape it over the back of the pilot's chair. "Should we just… stand?"

"Have a seat please," Skye said, looking back at them then. "Castle I imagine you'll want the co-pilot's seat."

Sitting down in the flight engineer's chair, Beckett looked up as the flight simulator moved and she said, "I didn't realize you'd actually be flying."

"Sorry, I wanted some practice," Skye said. "But, all I'm going to do is get us to 32,000 feet and let him take over before you can show me whatever it is you need to," she said, gesturing to Castle before she reached up and flipped a few switches on the ceiling in between them before going over some levers on the console to her right.

"Me?" Castle asked.

"Well, you're in the co-pilot's seat," Skye said as she then put on the shoulder restraints on the chair. "Unless you'd like a chance to fly?"

"I'm fine," Beckett said.

"You can slide that chair behind us," Skye said to her. "And buckle up, if you please."

Castle glanced back at Beckett, unable to keep the eager expression off his face as the investigator pressed a button and the sound of engines filled the room. "So, you were flying the 737 simulator before we came in," he said as Skye was putting on a headset.

"That I was, I have a couple theories on Pacific Air's engine failure, and I was trying to recreate it," Skye replied as she grabbed the headset above Castle and handed it to him to put on.

"You can fly more than a 747," Beckett stated, looking out the window and seeing they were lining up with a runway.

"Yes, but I'm certified for this one," Skye said. "And it's where I'm more comfortable. Alright, test flight one preparing to take off at 24R," she said. She glanced at Castle who was looking at her curiously and said, "It's a habit, this is how you train, acting as if there is an ATC and not just your instructor."

Castle and Beckett looked on as Skye powered up the engines, and then suddenly grabbed his hand to his surprise, putting it on the four levers covered by a white handle at the tops of them.

"Sorry, force of habit, like I'm trying to train you but I'll take over with the take off," Skye said, shaking her head before she let him move his hand. She grabbed the levers, and pushed them forward, the picture on the screen starting to move forward. She glanced down at the speed indicator, and eventually said, "V1," before waiting a short period of time and continuing with, "Rotate."

Watching as the woman pulled back on the yoke in front of her, Castle could feel the simulator tilting back and glanced at Beckett. "Was I supposed to help you with that?" he asked as they continued to climb.

"Pretty much, but like I said, forgot this is not a training session," Skye said. It took a little longer before she leveled off saying, "Okay, we're at 3200, your plane." She glanced at him and when she saw his slightly panicked look told him, "Just grab the yoke and hold it steady. If it's too much, I can set the autopilot." She waited until he was holding the yoke in front of him and let go.

Looking down at the control, Castle had to work for a moment to hold it steady before he felt comfortable. "Got it," he said, seeing Skye was watching him.

Nodding, Skye pushed her chair back and turned to Beckett. "What do you have?" she asked.

"This," Beckett said, handing her a file. "They're from the surveillance footage at the Boeing plant. We don't get a really good look at the man, but by his build and stride the FBI confirmed that he is, in fact, of the male gender. Do you recognize him?" she asked as Skye looked through the photos.

"Not really," the investigator said slowly. "Easy, it's just simulating light turbulence," Skye told Castle quickly as the room shook for a moment. "How tall is he?"

"Five eleven to six feet," Beckett replied.

"I'm sorry, I really can't tell who this is," Skye said apologetically.

"It was too much to hope for that he'd have his face exposed," Beckett said. "And this is the list of the winglets he stole," she said as she handed her a sheet of paper.

Reading the list rapidly, Skye nodded, starting to say, "They're all-" when there was a sudden message from the control panel.

" _Traffic, descend_ ," an automated voice announced.

"What did I do?" Castle asked as Skye hurriedly turned and pulled her chair back up.

"Nothing," the investigator said. "My plane; you don't have to repeat that, habit again. That git," she said, shaking her head as she pressed a button on the console between them. "Carlos, what the hell?"

"There's no such thing as a smooth flight," the man said into the flight deck.

"That's nice, I would like to not scare these two every time they go on a plane now," Skye said. "No more Carlos, wanker," she finished with before closing the intercom.

"Is that something you need to worry about?" Castle asked.

"Descending to 3100 feet," Skye said hurriedly before pushing forward on the yoke. "Go ahead and take over again. That was TCAS, warning me about traffic."

"I think I've heard of that," Castle said. "Traffic Collision Avoidance… System," he said, trailing off as a large jet appeared at the top of the windshield to their right.

"There she is. Yeah, back to this list though," Skye said, turning slightly to Beckett.

"Are they all airlines you've investigated?" she asked.

"They are, but that doesn't really tell you much does it?" Skye said.

"Not really, because your case reports are available for view online," Beckett said slowly.

"Again, I told the man at headquarters that I just needed a list with the names, dates and causes," Skye said. "Your Captain wasn't too irritated was she?"

"No, we put them in the conference room," Castle said.

"Thank you," Skye said. "Alright, let me turn us around as we're at Ontario." She took back the controls and turned them around before handing them back to Castle. "You're doing pretty well your first time," she told him.

"There's one thing I would like to ask you," Beckett then said as she watched Castle for a while. "Is Peter King at risk?"

"Oh, you know what, that's a good question," Skye said in surprise. "I'm honestly not sure, maybe you should-" she began to say when her phone rang. "That's him, Peter? Hey glad you're alright. How are you doing emotionally?"

Watching the investigator as she and Castle listened to her half of the conversation, Beckett was surprised when Skye suddenly said, "I might have to go to the ATC."

Looking up at the detective, Skye mouthed a sorry as she was listening to her colleague on the other end. When she had finished the conversation she quickly hung up and said, "I'm sorry, I need to interview the woman who was the ATC at the time of the crash. There's a problem with the recording we had yesterday and I want to clear the matter before we make a very quick, I mean I make a quick check on those engines."

"What's the problem?" Castle asked.

"Right now? We're nearly to LAX, I'll take over here, but I'd like you to pull this lever when I say break, okay?" Skye told him. When he nodded, she carefully set the flaps and had him lower the landing gear before she brought them down and the screen was at a full stop. "So, any chance we can work in the ATC?" she asked Beckett as they were leaving the simulator.

"Sure," Beckett said simply as they went down to the end of the walkway.

"By the way," Skye said, stopping at the top of the stairs and turning to them. "Have you had any luck looking into Agent Luis?"

"Not really, a lot was blocked except for his financials and that didn't really reveal much," Beckett said.

"Let me make a phone call in the car," Skye said. "And at the very least I can get you his phone record."

"That would be great, but how are you going to do that?" Beckett asked, heading down the stairs hurriedly to catch up with her.

"I have a friend in the FBI who-" Skye began.

"Wait, I thought the two agencies hated one another," Castle said.

"Not really, I just dislike Agent Luis; and technically we NTSB investigators get a bit… irked shall we say, at the time it takes the FBI to clear any criminal activity from a crash. Unless that's the actual cause," Skye said. "After I 'worked' with Luis," she said, putting the word in air quotes though she was holding her bag in one hand. "The FBI would send a female agent out to the crash or incident site, they didn't want a possible black eye on them as nearly happened with Luis."

"Good idea," Castle said as they stepped out into the control room.

" _Adios_ Carlos, _gracias_ ," Skye said, waving her hand. She spoke more in Spanish, but neither Castle or Beckett could really understand the words as they were spoken rapidly. When they had left the building and had gone to the parking structure next to it, she said, "Just asking with him about his family."

"How many languages do you know?" Castle asked in amazement.

"A number of them," Skye said simply. Once they were in Beckett's car, heading for JFK, she took out her phone and tapped the screen a few times before putting it to her ear. "Laura, hey, it's Skye," she said as the woman on the other end answered the phone. "No, I know your guys cleared my investigation, but I'm actually calling for another reason, another investigation. Oh, you've heard of the murders. Okay, then I need to put you on with the lead investigator of that case, she needs something." She switched her phone to speaker and leaned forward. "Go ahead."

"This is Agent Laura James, how can I help you?" the woman on the other end said.

Turning her head slightly as Skye was holding her phone over her shoulder, Beckett said, "This is Detective Kate Beckett, I have a person of interest in my case and I'm trying to get as much information as I can on him before I get interview him but have run into some difficulties."

"Ah, Luis," Laura said easily. "Yeah, I had a feeling Skye when you mentioned the case that he might come up. What is it you need Detective?"

"Is there any way to get his phone records, my people have tried to but we've been unable to, even with a warrant," Beckett said.

"Alright, what precinct are you with?" Laura asked.

Looking at Castle in surprise, Beckett quickly said, "The 12th, are you sending them over?"

"I am," Laura said shortly.

"I didn't know you had a warrant," Skye said quickly as she covered the microphone. "Laura, this isn't going to get you in trouble is it?"

"If it does I'll gladly take it," the agent replied. "You'll be seeing those records shortly Detective Beckett."

"Thank you Agent James, I appreciate it," Beckett replied.

"Not a problem, whatever I can do for you Skye," Laura said.

"Thank you again Laura, bye," Skye said as she sat back, hanging up. She noticed the look Castle was giving her and said, "Not what you think."

"It sounded like it," Castle said a little hesitantly.

"She's that way, it's why I wish she hadn't moved to DC from the LA regional office; easier to work with her," Skye said.

"That reminds me, isn't there an NTSB regional office in LA?" Beckett said.

"Been reading up on the NTSB I take it?" Skye asked. "Yeah, there used to be, but around 2000; when I was just starting at the Board; the chairman at the time Bobby Woodville was able to lobby Congress to open NTSB West to take on the case work and the regional offices west of the Mississippi."

"Does it help at all?" Castle asked.

"It does actually, but a lot of people have some issues with it, saying it's patently expensive putting another NTSB in play when there are the offices around the country. But believe it or not it's nothing our budget can't handle," Skye said. "And these days, well, since I did that article in _Time_ , the protest has calmed down. I'm just hoping it stays that way."

* * *

Walking into the air traffic control center at the top of the tower, Castle stopped suddenly as he looked around.

"What?" Beckett asked, looking back at him as she was walking after Skye.

"No, just thought there'd be more… machines," Castle said.

"Don't be so disappointed," Skye said, turning on her tablet as she walked back to them noticing they weren't following her. "It won't take me too long," she then said to Beckett. "I'll interview her here in the room, over there," she said, nodding to a space at the windows looking out onto the runways.

"Why there?" Castle said.

"I need her someplace comfortable. She doesn't need to think I'm a cop grilling her… that's not offensive is it?" Skye asked, realizing what she'd just said.

"Not at all, it makes sense," Beckett said with a shrug.

"I'd appreciate it, and I know they would too," Skye said, motioning to the controllers who were glancing back at them. "If you could remain here for the time being."

Nodding, and then nudging Castle in the side to get him to do the same, Beckett watched as the investigator walked over to a young woman who was taking off her headset.

"It's like watching a mirror with her isn't it?" Castle asked, glancing at her.

"Of course, we're both investigators, just different mediums," Beckett said. "You looked like you enjoyed that flight this morning," she said, wanting to get him off the subject of that since she'd noticed the similarities between herself and Skye already.

"That was pretty awesome," Castle said. "Are you staying over or going back home tonight?"

"I'll need to see," Beckett said, glad that he'd whispered his question to her. "Why?"

"I want to tell Julia I flew a plane today; the same plane she picked out," Castle said.

"You picked out an A380," Beckett said, looking at him in confusion. "The one like that," she said, nodding out the window to where there was one of the double decker planes coming in to a terminal.

"She wasn't kidding," Castle said, stepping forward. "They're huge."

Beckett shook her head when her phone started to ring and she hurriedly answered it as it was the Precinct. Stepping back towards the elevator where they'd ridden up in, she spoke to Ryan about the phone records that the FBI had finally allowed them to have, forgetting about Castle not listening to Skye's request as the detective mentioned the agent was already on his way back to NYC.

Walking closer to the front of the room to see the airplanes outside better, Castle was careful not to get into anyone's way lest they order him to leave. He listened to the worker he was standing a little behind direct a plane to land and after give another permission to wait at the end of the runway. Looking down at the desk in front of the controllers, he saw some metal bars with paper on them, the employees moving them and grabbing new ones after they'd given instruction to the pilots they were in contact with. The employee in front of him suddenly went further down and he stepped up to the bars that the man had been looking at, seeing there were letters on them that he couldn't understand. Seeing one had the letters DLT, he picked it up when he heard Beckett calling him.

"You heard her, what were you doing up there?" she said a little chidingly as he hurried back to her.

"Sorry, I was just trying to see the planes out there," Castle said.

"I'm set to go," Skye said, walking over to them then.

"Anything?" Beckett asked.

"Tell you the truth I'm not sure," Skye said as she walked next to her and they began to leave the room. "She mentioned she lost contact with them right before they crashed, a few seconds before that, so it's something I need to see on the FDR data. What about…" she said before she suddenly stopped and went over to Castle saying, "Care to put that back?"

A little surprised at the irritated tone in the woman's voice, Castle looked at her in confusion before he realized he was holding the metal bar still. He opened his mouth to reply when there was a shout behind him.

"Where the hell is my Delta strip?" the controller who'd been working in front of Castle yelled.

Turning, he was going to take the bar back to the man, when the controller rushed over to him and snatched it out of his hand with a glare. "Sorry," Castle said.

"Sorry Tony," Skye said. "I take responsibility there," she called to the man as he stormed back to his station. "Let's go."

"I really am sorry about that, I was just looking around," Castle said.

"And you had to pick that up?" Skye said, stabbing the down button on the elevator. "You don't seem too surprised he did that," she commented to Beckett.

"It's not the first time he's done something similar," she replied easily. "That wasn't important was it?"

"It's a really good thing you didn't walk out of the tower with that," Skye said. "He needs that to know what he's got going in and leaving the airport." She sighed when Castle mouthed another apology and then said, "Anyways, I need to head to the hangar, we can get an airport car and they'll drive us out there."

"Will we go on the runway?" Castle asked, unable to keep the eagerness out of his voice.

"No, around it," Skye said. "Anything with your case?"

"They have the phone records," Beckett said. "I don't know how good a friend of yours that agent is, but she pulled through in a big way. She got us Agent Luis' work _and_ personal phone records."

"I told you Laura was a friend," Skye said. "I'll have to thank her later."

"I had Ryan and Esposito start taking a look through them, paying particular attention around the time of the crash," Beckett said.

"You think he might have an accomplice he's contacting?" Castle said.

"It's possible, he could be taking a hands off approach to it, but if he was calling the burner phones, they'll show up," Beckett said. "And of course, any other numbers he may have called repeatedly will be a definite red flag if they're around the time of the first murder."

"Let's just hope he's a little too full of himself to get away with it," Castle said before he and Beckett glanced at Skye at her snort of contempt for the FBI agent.

* * *

"I hear the stride of Windsors," a man said as he turned from two engines inside the Pacific Air hangar. "Must be Investigator McDouglas."

"Hey Drake," Skye said with a slight smile as she shook the man's hand after putting on a pair of gloves.

"How are you Skye?" Drake said. "Heard about Olivia."

"I'm alright, is Peter here?" Skye asked him.

"Here Skye," Peter said as he walked up to them. "Detective, Mr. Castle, thank you for bringing her."

"Anything new?" Skye said as they walked towards the engines.

"Well, we finished up our look into the engines, and the weird thing is one is in perfectly good condition," Drake said.

"What?" Skye said incredulously.

"He's not kidding, the number two engine," Peter said. "Come here and look at the interior."

Watching as the three went around to the sides of the engines Beckett heard her phone ringing and she looked down to see it was the Precinct again.

"They finished looking at the phone records already?" Castle asked, looking over at her at the sound.

Answering the phone she quickly said, "Beckett."

"Hey I just finished with Ryan looking at the phone records," Esposito said on the other end.

"That quickly? That can't be good," Beckett said, turning and walking away from Castle slightly.

"There isn't too much on this guy that would point to him orchestrating anything," Esposito said. "No phone calls to any numbers that our two vics had, or the burner phones. But there were about twenty phone calls in the past week to one number at different times, mostly at night."

"Any idea whose number that is?" Beckett asked, feeling the relief at a possible real lead.

"We're looking into it, but it's a protected number, so it's taking some time, we've got tech trying to see if they can get past the security blocking the owner's name," Esposito said. "Where are you and Castle?"

"At a hangar in JFK," Beckett said. "We'll come in as soon as Skye finishes up with everything here."

"It's not a problem for me," Esposito said. "But is Castle hanging on to this girl like he was at the start with you?"

"What are you talking about?" Beckett asked in confusion.

"He might try and end things with the Nikki Heat series, make a new character; Jet Blue," Esposito joked.

Turning to her fiancé, Beckett saw that he was glancing back at her, and she smiled slightly at him before he turned back. "You thought of that for a while didn't you? I don't think I have anything to worry about," she said quickly. "Try looking into the phone records of the vics; compare them with the number that you got on Agent Luis' records." She hung up then as Castle walked back to her and said, "She's still looking at the engines?"

"She is, what did Espo say to you?" Castle asked. "You look angry," he said, answering Beckett's unasked question before she could speak.

"Annoyed is the better choice," Beckett said. "Something about you hanging around Skye like you are with me?"

"Ah, then I understand completely," Castle said. They started to walk to the engines to join the investigator, and he said, "You don't think I am do you?"

"We talked about that already, I said no," Beckett said. "I'm a little more confident than you and Esposito seem to think I am."

"This is absolutely bizarre," Skye was saying as the two walked up to where she was looking at the engine that was very obviously damaged. "So they had a catastrophic flame out obviously, but when?"

"I think it's because they kept trying to restart it," Drake said. "You see the charring here where the wiring is connecting it to the ignition. It's heavier than any place else."

"And the other engine is completely normal," Skye said, moving aside for another investigator to take pictures. "Okay, so we know they were flying with both engines off, one engine in perfect working order," she said. "Damn it Peter, Kegworth," she said, turning to him.

"What's Kegworth?" Castle said before he could stop himself.

"I'll explain later," Skye said quickly to him.

"It's a possibility, but it doesn't make any sense," Peter said. "These two pilots are way too young to have flown in the 300 and before models."

"Yeah, that's where this gets confusing," Skye said. "Especially since this wasn't a 400." She sighed deeply and looked at Drake saying, "Can you dismantle it, check again and see if there was any evidence of an oil leak as they mentioned?"

"Right away," Drake said, nodding. "But what about the other engine."

"Do the same," Skye said. "It'll be better if we get both down to components for a comparison, it may shed some light on what was going on in the number one engine." She walked away then with Peter towards the entrance and said, "I flew this morning at Boeing."

"Anything?" Peter asked.

"Nothing, I was able to get myself in the same situation as they were in, but there was no way I could get to JFK, they were lucky they didn't end up in the water. And nothing that is going to explain that level of decent, at least nothing that I could see with what situations I came up with while I was in the simulator," Skye said. "How are the passengers?"

"The two who're critically injured are fine," Peter said. "They're going to get better; it'll just take some time."

"Right, I won't be able to see the families of the deceased," Skye said, stopping and clutching her tablet noticeably tighter.

"It's alright," Peter said, putting his hand on her shoulder. "I think they would want you to focus more on the investigation."

"Not much I can do now, not without the data," Skye said.

"It's taking a little more time than they thought, but the FDR data they're getting now, I'll send it your way once I get it," Peter said.

"Thanks," Skye said. She turned to Castle and Beckett and said, "That means I've finished here, we can head back to the Precinct."

"What's Kegworth?" Castle repeated.

Taking a breath, Skye quickly explained the accident; a new 737-4Y0 in 1989 that had lost both engines flying from London to Belfast in Northern Ireland. It had been unable to land at East Midlands Airport, instead crashing just past the M1 in the town of Kegworth which was where the airport was located. "The cause was the pilots turning off the wrong engine when they smelled smoke on the flight deck," she finished with. "Turns out they were so new with the model that they didn't realize the 400 model didn't have the AC's power connected solely to the right engine anymore. It was the left engine and passengers actually saw it flaming in flight, but they didn't say a word, thinking the pilots knew already."

"You think this could be the same thing?" Beckett asked as they got into the car that had brought them there.

"Possibly," Skye said. "But I'm saying that hesitantly since this is not a 400 model, and the pilots in this plane are not the pilots on the British Midland 737. It's similar, eerily similar and that bothers me because similarities of this nature are not something you want in this industry. I keep repeating myself, but I need that FDR data and desperately need to hear the CVR recording."

"You'll get it today it sounds like, the first one," Castle said.

"Let's hope so," Skye said, groaning and covering her face with her hand.

Glancing at the investigator, Beckett could understand her frustration, it seemed their cases were running in a similar pattern; very little evidence. But she had the hope with the arrival of Agent Luis on American soil in a few hours their murder investigation would pick up a new lead; as much as she knew Skye was hoping that once she had that data her accident investigation would move forward as well.

* * *

Knocking on the door, Castle waited for Skye to look over from the white board that the investigator was using for her case and said, "Agent Luis is here, Beckett thought you might want to watch the interrogation."

"She would like me to watch I would imagine," Skye said, setting aside the marker in her hand and turning to follow him out as she grabbed her NTSB jacket and threw it on. "To see if I can tell if he's lying?"

"Something like that, you said you can read people pretty well right?" Castle said.

"I'm glad you both paid attention," Skye said. "Detectives," she said, nodding to Ryan and Esposito who were in the small room already. "How was he when you picked him up?"

"Angry as hell," Esposito said. "And saying he had nothing to do with any murders and…"

"Other things it would be kind of a waste of time to repeat," Ryan said before his partner could continue.

"About me, okay, so we're starting already," Skye said with a sigh, looking inside the room. "You're not going in there?" she asked Castle.

"We agreed your advice was the right direction. Especially after they told us about the hard time they had with him at the airport," he said quickly before they could hear Beckett opening the door to the room and they all turned to watch.

"Agent Rodrigo Luis," Beckett said, deciding being silent wouldn't really work with the man. "I've been able to read up on your history with the FBI, it's pretty impressive."

"Really, you're going to start out with kissing my ass? I thought I was a suspect," Luis said as Beckett sat across from him.

"I don't think I would want to go down that path, I would like to be able to hold onto my lunch," Beckett said easily as she opened up the file she had and her notebook, not looking at him. "But you're aware of the case I'm investigating I've been told."

"Yeah, it's news when people are being killed because of an NTSB investigator," the agent said, saying the last two words bitterly. "But I've been out of the country for a while now, it isn't me."

"I never said it was you," Beckett said, glancing at the file. "You were brought in because I'd like to ask you about Sk- Rose McDouglas, what you know about her."

"Skye you mean," Luis taunted her. "Don't tell me you're calling her that."

"Alright, since you don't want to answer, I'll tell you what you know about her," Beckett said, standing up and walking back and forth in front of the window. "You assaulted her and got in trouble because of that."

"Never assaulted her," Luis said.

"Agent Luis-" Beckett began.

"I never assaulted her, the bitch was coming on to me so I did what she was asking for," Luis yelled as he stood up. "I don't know what the hell she told you but she's a lying s-"

"Sit down," Beckett said in the same tone of voice but in a much more controlled volume, walking up to the other side of the table, almost staring him down. "Sit down Agent Luis and I'll tell you what I know. You were charged with sexual harassment, given a suspension of a year and were put on probation for another year. I have that right here, she didn't say a word about what happened to you after she pressed those charges," she told him sharply.

"Those charges-" Luis began.

"Do you know Leonora Jenkins?" Beckett suddenly asked, pulling a picture from her notebook and sliding it across the table to him.

"Who the hell is this?" Luis asked.

"What about Olivia Hurst?" Beckett said, putting another picture in front of him.

Agent Luis was silent, looking at the crime scene photos of the two women and he swallowed slightly before saying, "You're sure it's not her doing this?"

"I knew it," Skye said bitterly in the observation room.

"I'm sure, she has the alibi of being on a plane from LA at the time of the first murder, and she was here in the Precinct during the second," Beckett said, sitting back down again. "But what about you? I know you were out of the country for the second, but you were here at the time of the first murder."

"How could it be me if I was out of the country for the second murder?" Luis shot back.

"An accomplice," Beckett said. "Who's at the phone number of 555-3189?" When the man was silent in response she quickly said, "It's an accessory; who you've been paying out of a second account you have under your wife's name, large amounts of cash going to him to pay for the second murder so you've got an alibi. Do you hate Skye that much that you want her dead? Your career isn't over; you're still working for the FBI. Or is it the rejection? You wanted her and when she turned you down and slapped you with charges that nearly ruined your career you decided you'd pay her back for what she did. First by killing her friends, next you'll do what? Kill her wife, because I know it was the reason she was married she didn't accept your advances. And you'll save Skye herself for last, make her suffer and pay like she made you do."

"She's my mistress," Luis suddenly said, loud enough to make Beckett pause.

"He's not talking about me," Skye said quickly, looking at the three men who were staring at her. "The number."

"The phone number," Beckett said. "And the cash withdrawals from that account that you set up in your wife's name."

"Yeah, I met her four months ago," Luis said. "And that's who I've been calling. Listen Detective, I'm pretty sure I'm wasting your time here when you can be looking for the real killer."

"What's your alibi for one am yesterday?" Beckett asked.

"I was at home, sleeping, you can ask my wife," Luis said simply.

"I will be," Beckett said, standing up. She opened the door and whispered to LT who was standing on the other side before she walked to the observation room.

"It's not him," Castle, Beckett and Skye all said at the same time.

"So do we still check his alibi," Esposito said as Castle and Beckett looked at Skye in surprise.

"Yes, but you're likely going to be releasing him from holding," Beckett said. "And I'd like to contact the NTSB again."

"I could do that," Skye said, following Beckett and Castle out of the room. At the same moment, LT was leading out Agent Luis, and before she could turn to head back to her room she heard the agent's voice, scathing behind her.

"I knew it was you that led them to me," Luis said, starting to walk up to Skye. Before he could though, Esposito got in front of him and he had to stop, but it didn't shut him up. "Anything you can do to make everyone think you're some kind of saint."

Turning around, Skye said simply, "If it hadn't been me, they would have found out about you."

"Please, you beg me for attention-" Luis said.

"I could care less about you Agent. But," Skye cut him off. She walked up to him then, stopped by Ryan when he grabbed her arm, but stared at the agent and said, her eyes narrowed, " _Es usted un asesino_? Did you kill Lenora and Olivia?"

"I have no idea who the hell they are," Luis almost snarled, pushing against Esposito before LT grabbed his other arm. "Why would I kill them?"

Skye began to shout in Spanish, and though she understood some, Beckett couldn't translate it fully, but she got the gist of it as it sounded as if the investigator was accusing the FBI agent of the murders. She grabbed Skye's arm to stop her, but she just shrugged her off, trying to get closer to Agent Luis.

The two were soon shouting in Spanish at each other though the others around them were trying to make them stop, another officer having to help Esposito and LT holding Agent Luis; Beckett still trying to hold back Skye with little success before Skye finally spoke; cutting off his accusation of her committing the murders herself.

"I have nothing to do with this, I don't butcher people, not like you have," Skye said before she turned and stalked down the hall as Agent Luis yelled obscenities at her back in Spanish as the three men restraining him dragged him to holding. She didn't stop until she had entered the conference room and groaned as she turned to Castle and Beckett who were behind her. "I shouldn't have let him bait me like that. But he does that to a lot of people, especially those he really doesn't care for," she said apologetically.

"Actually, I think it was necessary," Beckett said. "I can hold him for twenty-four hours, but I'll probably be letting him go after that."

"That's fine," Skye said, walking around the table to her laptop. She saw she had a message and breathed out, "Finally."

"The FDR data?" Castle asked.

"It is," Skye said. "And this is going to take me some time, so I hope you'll allow me to get back to my case Beckett."

"Go ahead," she replied easily before leaving, Castle following. "Is he set?" she asked Esposito as she reached her desk.

"Yeah, I threatened him in Spanish about more charges and that shut the son of a bitch up," Esposito said.

"Do I want to ask what he called her?" Castle asked. When the detective shook his head he said quickly, "Okay, then what's next?" before sitting next to Beckett's desk.

"I want to call the NTSB," she replied, picking up her phone. "You guys get anything from the rest of the airlines you had?" she said to Ryan and Esposito.

"Well, there was a guy from her third case, with Cathay Pacific, but I checked into him and he's deceased, and his family is living in a village in Vietnam, they wouldn't be able to come here to the US, their financials are pretty much non-existent," Ryan said.

"And I got a hold of Air Alaska," Esposito said. "They gave me the number of their former co-CEO, not Morcamb, and I tried to get a hold of them but no luck."

"Where do they work now?" Beckett asked, seeing a possible lead though she had to wonder why he was using third person.

"SeaTac Airlines," Esposito said. "You want me to call them instead?"

"Please," Beckett said before she started to dial the number she had been given by Peter King to contact the NTSB. "Hello, this is Detective Kate Beckett with the NYPD and-"

"Detective Beckett," the man on the other said, interrupting her. "Yes, I've been told to expect a possible call from you. My name is Jack Stuart, how may I assist you?"

"I'm calling concerning Investigator McDouglas," Beckett said, looking at Castle as he stood up and turned the murder board around. "We've been trying to find out if there's been anyone in her past that might have become a threat to her and I've been coming up with little to nothing except for someone she worked with once. I'd like to know if in past cases there's ever been anyone she might not consider a threat, but would be necessary for me and my people to know about."

Looking at the list of airlines, all of them checked off over the course of the morning, Castle thought over the circumstances of the first murder and how they had guessed the first victim had managed to escape from the killer at first. He thought of something, and turned to Beckett, seeing she was just hanging up the phone. "Did you ever wonder where the first vic was coming from when she got to that alley?" he suggested.

"I had the same idea," Esposito said. "I tried the other security cameras in the area."

"And?" Beckett asked.

"Very little footage and most of them were filming shadows," Ryan said, joining them. "We were both checking as wide an area as we could. And wherever the vic first started out from there were obviously no cameras."

"I thought it was too good to be true," Beckett said.

"Then that brings me back to an idea I've been rolling around in my head," Castle said. "I was saying yesterday about the governments of the countries Skye's been to hiring assassins to kill her. But what if it was the CIA?"

"Why would the CIA want to kill her?" Esposito asked in disbelief.

"Because there have been crashes that have been controversial, the findings I mean," Castle said. "Gander, TWA 800, what if she investigated those or another one-"

"Excuse me, Detective?" an aide said, coming up to them. "I'm sorry, but I got a strange set of papers coming out of the printer, they were from your wireless signal."

Taking the file, Beckett opened it and saw the first paper was covered in numbers, and she opened her mouth to say there was a mistake when someone spoke before her.

"That's the FDR data, I'm sorry, I needed it printed out," Skye said, walking up to them.

"That's alright," Beckett said, handing it to her.

"I was going to mention it to you but you looked to be busy," Skye said.

"Hey, are you sure you've never investigated a crash that had controversial results?" Castle asked her.

"No," Skye said shortly before rushing back to what had become her work room.

"We went over the cases yesterday," Ryan pointed out. "She never mentioned anything about disputed findings or anything like that."

"TWA's results were supposed to be final and there's still some doubts about them," Castle said with a shrug.

"Ask her to see what she says," Beckett said simply. "Okay, setting aside the CIA-"

"The FBI?" Castle suggested. When she just looked at him he said, "I'm running out of conspiracy theories."

"That would be a good idea if she didn't have some friends there," Beckett said, reminding him how they'd gotten some help from the agency. "So I think we need to look from the beginning, which starts in Colorado. Have you heard anything from police there?"

"Not really," Esposito said. "Denver Airport contacted me and they're sending the footage of our vic but they warned me there's nothing suspicious about her as she's going through the airport."

"So she just got her ticket and left?" Castle asked.

"No, they said she goes straight to the terminal," Esposito said. "She had her ticket already."

"Which means the killer was already on the plane," Beckett mused.

"He could have said he had accomplices that would be watching her and would harm her sons and husband if she didn't do as he said," Castle said.

"Most likely," Beckett said with a nod. "Are they sending footage of that terminal?"

"From the time the plane lands until it leaves," Esposito said with a nod.

"What if it was making a stop," Ryan suddenly said. "Is Trans Jet that kind of airline?"

Seeing the three men looking at her Beckett rolled her eyes and started to walk over to the room Skye was in saying, "One of you could have done this."

"It's fun seeing you two getting so chummy," Esposito commented. "What?" he asked Castle who was shaking his head at him as Beckett gave him a look.

"Skye," Beckett said, knocking on the doorframe. "I need to ask you something," she said apologetically when the investigator looked up from the papers in front of her.

"That's alright," Skye said, marking where she was looking with a ruler. "What can I help you with?"

"Does Trans Jet have multiple stops on their flights," Beckett said simply.

"They do," Skye said. "They're based in San Francisco, and they fly to a number of places, but I don't know of any non-stop flights since they're domestic."

Nodding, Beckett went back to the others and said, "It was making a stop."

"Then here's what's confusing me," Castle said. "If we're saying the killer is based here in the city; and that's why he waited for her to come here; how did he get out to Denver and get her on the plane when she left her home in only a matter of hours after the crash and Skye being asked to investigate it."

"He wasn't on the plane," Beckett said simply. "He threatened her by saying he had accomplices, and she took him at his word."

"So did she talk to him before?" Castle said.

"She did, the burner phone that called her yesterday in the morning was one that popped up a few times in the week leading up to the crash," Ryan said.

"And trying to track the number, we got a few towers around the city, but always moving and never near anything specific, building, park, anything like that," Esposito said.

"So he would call from a car or a taxi," Castle said.

"He's had a long time to plan this, so that doesn't surprise me," Beckett said as the phone on her desk rang. "Beckett," she said as she answered it. She listened to the voice on the other end and tensed up for a moment before she asked, "Can you give me a description?"

Looking over at her at that, Castle watched until she hung up the phone and asked, "Another murder?"

Not answering him, Beckett stood up and walked over to the conference room, walking in without knocking.

"Hold on a second," Skye said, having heard her enter. "Fourteen thousand parameters and I need to find the anomaly in a matter of seconds on these papers. It's like finding a needle in a haystack all the same color," she said before she looked up. She stood up immediately when she saw the look on Beckett's face; the chair she was sitting on scraping back on the floor; and asked, "Who is it?"

"A woman in her early thirties, long brown hair and hazel eyes," Beckett said, her tone of voice grave.

"Was, was she wearing a silver oval locket?" Skye asked, slightly stammering as her voice lowered to almost a whisper. When Beckett nodded in response she leaned down on the table as if she'd been punched in the stomach and gasped out in obvious pain as Beckett and Castle watched her, "Sarah."


	7. Knew You Well

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song Here Today by Paul McCartney, from his album Tug of War.

Running over the snow to the cluster of officers, Beckett and Castle tried to catch up to Skye before she could reach the body lying in the middle of the group, covered with a white sheet.

"Stop her," Perlmutter said, looking up and seeing her. "Hold her back," he told the officer who managed to grab her by the arms.

"Wait, let me see her," Skye begged, her voice strained as she tried to break away from the man.

"Skye," Beckett said as she and Castle managed to reach her. "Let us do our job alright? I'll ID her for you."

About to protest, Skye looked at her and seeing the expression her face nodded, allowing the officer to escort her away from the body to a bench where she sat watching as Beckett and Castle went to the covered form.

"I don't know if you're going to want to look at this," Perlmutter said.

Beckett just looked at the doctor until he pulled down the sheet and she turned away at the brutality of the injuries to the victim's face. "Yeah, that's her," she finally said, turning once she was sure the face was covered again. "Sarah Kendall. How was she killed?"

"Her throat was slit," Perlmutter said as he looked at the fingers of the victim. "She put up a fight before, her nails are broken and this one torn clean off."

"What about the… stab wounds to her face?" Castle asked, his throat dry as he looked at the spots of blood at the top of the sheet.

"Postmortem, the cut to her throat is jagged all the way through, but the wounds to her face are clean, she couldn't fight back at that point," Perlmutter replied. "Here this was found a little bit down the path, and this was on her body," he said once he'd stood.

Taking the bag with a piece of metal, Beckett then took the other bag and when she saw the picture inside she looked at Castle, handing it to him. "I need these taken to the lab, please check for prints, DNA, whatever you can find," she said, her voice clipped as she spoke to the CSU team member who was standing by them.

"We talked to the people around the park," Esposito said, walking up to Beckett. "No one saw or heard anything."

"She wasn't killed here," Castle said. "Not a drop of blood anywhere."

"I also asked if anyone saw a guy about the height we got from that security camera footage," Esposito continued with. "And some people saw a number of guys like that, but not acting suspiciously."

"I'm trying to figure out how he was able to get a body here in the middle of the park without anyone at all seeing him," Beckett said.

"I think I know how," Ryan said, walking down the path to them. "The guy who was walking along pond over there and who actually found the body said he saw someone with a scarf across their mouth with an empty wheelchair. He didn't think much about it until after he found the body."

"Did you get a description of the guy?" Beckett asked.

"Yeah, he was Caucasian, and had dark eyes, but that's all he could tell me," Ryan said. "But he did fit the height of the man in the security footage."

Beckett nodded, and then said, "Okay, I think we should leave this to CSU, and we need to do two things. You two need to see if there's any way to find the killer at the Seattle airport arriving the day of the robbery."

"How are we going to do that if we don't have anything to indicate when he arrived?" Ryan asked.

"You'll have to go through the footage of the airport," Beckett said. "If you can get it in time."

"And the second thing?" Castle asked, knowing already that trolling through the airport's footage was a long shot.

"I need to talk to Skye," Beckett said. "Back at the station."

* * *

Watching as Beckett sat across from her, Skye dashed the tear that had slid down her cheek before she could stop it, and she asked, "Did, did she suffer?"

"It was over pretty quickly," Beckett said simply.

"Okay, so what do you need to know?" Skye asked with some trepidation.

"What her connection is to you," Beckett replied.

Sighing out deeply, the investigator leaned back against her chair and said, "She was the co-CEO of Air Alaska; with Morcamb as I told you before. That's the winglet, dark blue with a sun on the end. 'Flying the Midnight Sun,' that was their slogan. It worked pretty well until the fiasco with flight 612. That was when I met Sarah."

Beckett was quiet, watching the woman as she waited to hear if there was more to their relationship than she suspected after Skye's reactions since hearing about the victim's murder. "Was she a problem?" she finally asked when Skye was quiet for a long time.

"No, not at all," Skye said. "We got along well, she wanted to help in any way she could. She was horrified at what had happened, she was very proud of their fleet, and that this could happen to one of their planes was like a stab… it was personal for her," she said, faltering at the end as she had heard the others talking about the body and had heard about the stab wounds.

"So she helped you," Beckett said carefully to get her talking again.

"She did, and when the case was over, meaning the trial was over," Skye continued. "We talked. And though we were pretty obviously attracted to each other, we decided it wasn't going to work. She was an airline CEO; the airline that I had just investigated and as a result of that had fines brought against it by the FAA. And she lived in Anchorage; I was in LA so we just… left it at that."

"Did you keep in contact with her?" Beckett asked.

"At first, slightly," Skye said hesitantly. "Once I met my wife though I stopped as I knew I was being a hypocrite and though she didn't say that, I knew Sarah thought it. So I told her we needed to stop torturing ourselves with what really couldn't be, and the last time I heard from her was about a month before Mary and I got engaged."

"And do many people know about this almost relationship," Beckett said, wondering what about the investigator's wife made her a hypocrite.

"No, actually, the only person who does is Mary," Skye said. "But if you're wondering how the killer might have chosen her… I guess he could have hacked my computer."

"I don't think that's keeping with his methods," Beckett said. "But I might give the LAPD a call and have them check your computer." She paused for a moment and said, "I am sorry about your loss."

"It's not really my loss," Skye said. "I was the one that brought up the improbability of any relationship between us. I killed that possibility of her having any kind of joy in her life because I was a coward. I loved her but it took me a very long time to let myself love anyone. And instead of her being safe as Mary is…" she trailed off as she took off her glasses and covered her eyes with her hand.

Beckett waited until the investigator seemed to recover, and asked, "Did she have anyone in her life? A significant other? Wife?"

"As far as I know, no," Skye said. "And you know she could have always told someone about us on her end. Oh, she's the co-CEO of SeaTac Airlines; she founded that after she left Air Alaska to the current CEO."

"Okay, I don't think I have any more questions," Beckett said, standing up. "If I do, I'll ask."

"Feel free to, I'm hoping you catch whoever the hell he is before he kills me," Skye said. "I saw the picture," she said simply.

"How-" Beckett began.

"I saw it when that CSU worker was walking past me," Skye said. "And now I know how much danger I'm in I might ask whatever officer guards me tonight does so inside my suite."

"A good idea," Beckett said, opening the door to let her walk by. She watched as Skye went back to the conference room, and then went to her own desk where Castle was.

"How is she?" he asked, looking up from his phone.

"Guilty, apparently they were attracted to each other, but she decided it would be better if they didn't act on it," Beckett replied, picking up a file that had been left on her desk. She opened it and took out a picture of the third victim before putting it up on the murder board and then began to write underneath it. "Anything from Ryan and Esposito?"

"They're still working on that footage," Castle said, glancing at Esposito who was at his desk.

"It might be a dead end," Beckett said before she called out to him. "Espo, why don't you take a break with the airport footage, and look into our third vic?"

"Got it," Esposito said, looking relieved.

"I asked Skye if anyone knows about their feelings for one another, and she said the only person she'd ever told was her wife," Beckett said, turning to Castle once she had finished writing what information they knew; which included the time of death which had been around the same time as their second victim.

"You think it might be her?" Castle asked.

"She said something about someone only knowing if they hacked into her computer to see the few e-mails they apparently exchanged before Skye stopped writing to her out of guilt," Beckett replied. "What if there was no hacker?"

"Her wife might have discovered that and gotten jealous," Castle said. "But the first two?"

"I'm not sure, but I think we should look into their connection to Mary McDouglas as well," Beckett said. "But one thing I'd like to set down is motive for Sarah Kendall. First was an acquaintance of Skye's, second was her mentor."

"And third was a possible romantic interest," Castle said. "Which would explain the unnecessary stabbing after he slit her throat. It's as if he's saying I want to hurt you as much as possible before I kill you."

"And he's letting us know that he's done fooling around," Beckett said, looking at the picture of the photograph of Skye they'd found on the body. The word _last_ had been scrawled over the photo in what everyone assumed was the vic's blood, an obvious warning. "So security is going to be tighter with her," she said, glancing over at the door to the room the investigator was in; Officer Thomas standing just outside it. She quickly wrote down on the murder board that the killing had been more brutal due to the vic's relationship with Skye, and then stood up. "I'll go ahead and look into her wife more than we did the first time. Can you do me a favor?"

"Sure," Castle said.

"Get her some coffee, and if you possibly can, ask if she knows where exactly her wife has been the last couple of days," Beckett said. "And maybe if she's noticed her wife acting strangely or anything like that lately."

"Right, but if I get her coffee she'd know something's wrong," Castle pointed out. When she just gave him a look as she sat down at her desk he nodded quickly and said, "Okay, tea it is," before he went over to the break room.

Wearing her headphones, Skye didn't hear Castle as he walked inside the room, instead she only took notice of him once he'd set down the cup of tea in front of her. "Thank you," she said with a slight nod. She took off the headphones and said, "Anything?"

"We're looking into some leads," Castle said, sitting across from her.

"Ah, Mary and I were waiting for this; you're looking into her aren't you?" Skye asked. At his slightly shocked expression she said simply, "We thought it was a matter of time, since she's still in LA. But she is in LA; I can assure you of that, you can call her at our home phone number which is on my NTSB employee information."

"You don't think she could have done this," Castle said simply.

"There wouldn't be much reason," Skye said. "She doesn't really know Lenora other than what I've told her and Olivia she's never even met."

"But she knows about Sarah," Castle pointed out.

"Yeah, she does, it's how I knew you were starting to look at my wife as a possible suspect," Skye said. She took a sip of her tea and then set it down saying simply, "But while I think you're kind of wasting time with that angle, I understand you need to look at all possible options."

"She's not really happy about doing that… I don't think," Castle said, faltering slightly with the last.

Smiling a little, Skye then said, "I would think you know. Anything about Luis?"

"We were able to get in contact with his wife and she confirmed his alibi, their baby was apparently not settling down and he went to bed before her, she had a case of insomnia, and didn't get to sleep," Castle said; Ryan having talked with the woman.

"She could be covering for him," Skye commented.

"No, she knows about the affair, and she said that she wished she could tell us he was the killer," Castle said. "So we had to let him go. But he was escorted outside to a cab; per Beckett's instructions."

"I appreciate that," Skye said simply, looking at her laptop screen.

"Can I ask you something?" Castle said.

"Alright," Skye replied.

"Is your wife the jealous type? Would she be jealous of Sarah?" Castle said.

"To tell you the truth, I think she's grateful for what she did for me," Skye said. She saw the confused expression on his face and said, a nostalgic smile on her face, "I'm not exactly the kind of woman who'll run through girlfriends, I've never been. But, with Sarah I was prepared to… not settle down, but allow myself to date. Mary's of the belief that that helped me accept what we ended up having for each other."

"But you said you stopped all contact with the, with Ms. Kendall," Castle said, hurriedly correcting himself.

"That was by my choice," Skye said, glancing at the doorway. "It's not her," she stated.

Turning, Castle saw that it was Beckett and he stood saying, "Sorry about bothering you, but I just wanted to give you that tea. I thought you could use it."

"Yes, you know you could have asked me outright when you talked to me," Skye directed to Beckett.

"It wasn't until now I needed to ask," she replied. "Anything on your end."

"The CVR recording," Skye said, holding up her headphones. "I'm hoping I get something; anything at least."

"What about the other data?" Castle asked.

"The FDR, yeah, still looking through it," Skye said. "If you'll excuse me…" she said, putting the headphones over her ears and turning back to her computer.

"So she's cleared, her wife I mean," Castle said.  
"Big time, at the time of the last two murders, she was at LAX; got some security footage of her saying goodbye to Skye," Beckett said, going to the murder board and quickly noting the information. "Esposito's looking at her phone and financials, but in my mind it's not her."

"Yeah, she was pretty adamant it wasn't," Castle said.

"Beckett, it's not her," Esposito said, walking over to them with a file. "Her phone records, she made a call right after saying goodbye to Skye, and that was to her father in law and the phone was definitely around Lincoln Boulevard, outside the airport."

"Alright, then just make a quick check on her financials and we can move on to our third vic herself," Beckett said. "How did that go?"

"I was able to look at her phone records before I moved on to Mary McDouglas," Esposito said, handing her a second file. "And there's one number that was in there a number of times before she flew here."

"Burner phone?" Beckett asked.

"Burner phone, but, there was one call that came the morning she was murdered," Esposito said. "About two in the morning in Seattle."

"He called her out here," Castle said.

"And then a second, five hours later," Esposito said. "I haven't been able to locate where that might have been placed, but I can check right now."

"Go ahead," Beckett said. "It's a better lead than her wife." She and Castle followed him to his desk, and looked on as he went onto his computer, typing a few things before he turned the screen towards them. "Near JFK," Beckett said, seeing the tower on the map. "So he probably picked her up."

"Then he had to have been inside of the airport when she arrived," Castle said. "And that call was to make sure she had landed so he could get her before she informed the police. Though I get the feeling he lured her like he did the second vic; something about Skye being hurt."

"You have a point," Beckett said. "Did she have anyone in her life that might know why she left Seattle in such a hurry?"

"Parents are dead, no husband… or wife, or kids, I can't get any relatives of hers," Esposito said.

"Alright, then her co-workers," Beckett said. "They might have noticed her acting differently when those calls started."

"I'll make some calls, they pretty much know me by now at the airline," Esposito said.

Going back to her desk, Beckett saw she had an e-mail, and she looked at the message calling back to Esposito, "Was LAX security planning on contacting me?"

"Oh yeah, I asked for some footage of her wife leaving after dropping her off before I got a hold of the phone call," he answered.

"You're going to watch it?" Castle asked as Beckett opened the video file.

"To make sure," she said simply, seeing it was inside a parking structure.

Looking over her shoulder, Castle waited until on the screen the woman got into a car and drove off, the view shifting to the car at a booth before driving away. "You know… is it just me or does her wife look a lot like Sarah Palin?" he said.

"Alright," Beckett said, closing the video and her message folder. "We've ruled out a lot of people in this case, but there's something that's been bothering me still. Not one person has ever mentioned; besides Agent Luis; that anyone's had a grudge against Skye."

"She seems to keep to herself," Castle said.

"Pretty much," Beckett said.

"Hey guys," Ryan called then. "I think you'll want to see this."

Walking into the room first, Beckett saw the TV and said, "ATM footage?"

"I was looking at the security footage of JFK and saw her stopping at an ATM," Ryan said. "Made a call to the company that owns it and they sent the footage right away. I found this."

Watching, Beckett saw the third victim walk up to the screen and start making a transaction. "She withdrew money?" she asked.

"No, she didn't," Esposito said, walking into the room. "Just got her financials, everything's normal, except there's this. She started a withdrawal, but then canceled it."

"So she tried to get help," Castle said.

The victim was looking up at the security camera then, and started to show a piece of paper to it when she was suddenly grabbed on the shoulder and pulled away.

"Go back," Beckett said, standing up and stepping closer to the screen. "Stop there," she said when Ryan had reached the point where the paper was almost fully on screen. "Damn it, she didn't have a chance to get it clearer," she said when the letters on the paper were only a blur. "See if tech can work on that at all."

"What about the guy that grabs her," Castle said.

Fast forwarding, Ryan was able to pause on the moment the man first appeared, and then watched as Beckett zoomed into him. "Sunglasses and a hat," he said as they all saw the face after the zoom focused slightly.

"It's enough to ask Skye," Beckett said. "Print that out, and send it to tech as well, see if they can go through each frame to get anything at all, tattoo, scar, whatever there is I need them to find it." She took the picture that Ryan handed to her of the screenshot, and went down to Skye's room.

Jumping a little when a picture bumped into her hand, the NTSB investigator looked up to see it was Castle and Beckett. She hurriedly pulled off her headphones and then looked at the photograph more closely. "Is this him?" she asked, sucking in a breath of air as she realized the person's shoulder was Sarah Kendall's.

"It's likely; does he look recognizable to you at all?" Beckett asked.

"Not really," Skye said slowly before she picked up her phone and ran it over the man's face. "No, I'm sorry, though with that chin… he could almost look like Frank Nelson."

"The other survivor in your crash," Castle said; having seen the name in the papers on the woman.

"It's not my crash," Skye snapped. She stood up then and quickly said, "I apologize, it's not easy for me to talk about that. But he was the other survivor of that plane crash, he was five years old."

"Are you in contact with him at all?" Beckett asked.

"Not exactly," Skye said. "There was an episode of the show _Air Crash Investigation_ a few years ago that looked into that accident and the investigation. He was on it and I contacted him after that. We've chatted via e-mail, and are fairly good friends. But I actually wasn't finished. He looks like Frank, however, if you look at the picture," she said, picking it up and her phone and going over to Beckett. "See that?"

"A prosthesis," Beckett said when she saw the very obvious line at the beginning of the chin. "He's trying to turn the focus to Mr. Nelson."

"Maybe, the angle looks skewed, it could be just that my mind went directly to Frank," Skye said. "Where is this from?"

"An ATM machine at JFK," Castle said. "She had a note; we couldn't really see it though."

"Then she was trying to contact me," Skye said, sitting down then. "You think he's been able to lure them using me. But what if he told them he'd kill me if they didn't follow his commands?"

"Would they put themselves at risk if he had?" Beckett asked.

"They would," Skye said, looking slightly guilty at the thought. "Sarah especially. That might be why he stabbed her in the face." When Castle and Beckett looked at each other she then said; slightly bitterly; "I could see over her face a lot of blood. So he stabbed her repeatedly, to do what, send a message to me? I saw the picture."

"We'll find him," Beckett said, not sure what else she could say.

"I know, I trust that you will do so, I'm just worrying about the safety of my family at this point," Skye said, standing up.

"I don't think he'll kill them," Castle said. When the two women looked at him he quickly explained, "We've said it before, this is about you professionally, your family doesn't really factor into it."

"And Sarah?" Skye asked.

"I think that's because he wanted one that was slightly personal," Beckett said, speaking slowly as she'd gotten a sudden idea. "What if this is someone from Air Alaska, from maintenance at the time of the crash you investigated but didn't really have personal contact with?"

"Someone who was fired as a result and became down on their luck," Castle said quickly, warming up to the idea. "And is from here. It would explain why they… the postmortem wounds," he said, slowing down before he was too graphic in his supposition.

"No one was fired," Skye said. When they looked at her she said, "After the investigation into maintenance, the FAA cleared the actual workers of any wrongdoing. It was all blamed on Morcamb who changed the maintenance intervals as I've told you."

"I'll still have to look into the airline," Beckett said.

"By all means do so, but it's not the maintenance workers," Skye said a little forcefully. She saw the slightly taken aback expression on Beckett's face, Castle looking a little confused, and she stood, going over to the whiteboard.

"How goes your investigation?" Castle asked, glancing over at Beckett as he walked to the board.

"Alright, I've listened to the CVR a few times by now," Skye said, writing down a few things.

"There was the same pause we heard?" Castle said, seeing her noting that.

"There was, right after they got a warning from the number two engine about it having an oil leak," Skye said. "And it was on the recording from Center as well. I'm having a hard time figuring out where this is stemming from. And where that false warning came from as well."

"What if the plane was trying to fly itself?" Castle suggested. "What?" he asked Beckett as she was shaking her head. "It wanted to fly itself and get rid of the pilots so it put out that warning to throw them off. Like a Transformer."

"So he does that often," Skye said, looking at Beckett who only rolled her eyes. She turned back to the board, and then paused before she said, "Wait… that's it."

"I'm right?" Castle asked, looking surprised and seeing that Beckett did as well.

"You can't be serious," Beckett asked as Skye went to the papers on the table next to the laptop.

"What, your theory?" Skye asked, looking up at Castle as she unrolled one of them on the end of the table. "It's bollocks. No, it's what you said, the plane giving off a false warning. And weren't the planes in Transformers military planes?"

"Should we leave you to continue," Beckett said as Skye looked over the schematic she'd been looking at the night before in her hotel room.

Not answering, the investigator looked over the drawing for a few seconds longer and then she looked up at them and finally spoke. "I need to go back to JFK; I think I just caught a break."


	8. Sometimes Gets Mad

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song This Guitar (Can't Keep From Crying) by George Harrison, from his album Extra Texture (Read All About It).

" _It …gine number two._ "

" _Check the manual; we need to shut it down._ "

"Right there," Peter King said as Skye paused the recording from the CVR. "You're not kidding; the timing of that one is suspicious."

"That and I got thinking," Skye said. "After something that Castle said," she said in quick acknowledgement, nodding towards him and Beckett sitting in two of the chairs in the office. "What if it was a false warning."

"Generated by what? That's a catastrophic failure if it told them the wrong engine," Peter said.

"That's why I'm here, I need to see the plane to be able to have a better idea of what exactly I need to look at," Skye said. "But I have my suspicions. And not just the CVR, but look at the FDR data," she then said, showing him the papers. "Right about the same time as that conversation on the flight deck, you see this reading for the engine."

Reading the numbers, Peter shook his head and then said, "That's impossible, we know it's engine number one that flamed out from an oil leak."

"I know," Skye said, pacing back and forth. "You need to stop the team and let me have a look at her."

"Give me a second," Peter said before he left the room.

Standing up to follow as Skye went after him, Beckett said, "You didn't tell him your suspicions."

"I didn't tell you either, how did you know?" Skye said, looking at her with wide eyes.

"It's in your stance," Castle said. "You're incredibly tense."

"Good eye, yeah, this is how I am when I get close to breaking the investigation," Skye said, stopping on the threshold of the work area where different members of the go team were looking at components of the plane. "If Peter and I had worked together longer he would have caught it." She was quiet for a moment before saying, "You didn't have to bring me yourself."

"Which you've mentioned already and don't really need to say again," Beckett said, since they'd talked about that already on the drive to the hangar. "We're at another lull in my case, so I'm hoping this time might get us some evidence, from CSU or tech at the very least."

Nodding, Skye saw Peter motioning her over and said, "If you'll excuse me." She started to take a step forward when she heard the sound of Beckett's heel coming down on the floor. "I take it you're stepping up security for me for yourself as well?"

"Basically," Beckett said.

"Alright, you," Skye then directed to Castle who looked a little confused about where he should go. "Stick with her and do not, I repeat, do not touch anything, you're liable to give yourself some type of injury."

"Sure," Castle said quickly.

"Alright, they're waiting for you," Peter said as Skye walked up to him.

"No pressure," she replied sarcastically as she put on a hard hat.

Beckett started to walk after the investigator when she was stopped by one of the team members. "I won't follow her inside the plane if you're thinking I'm going to do that," she quickly told the woman.

"Let her go Yvonne," Peter said, turning to them. "Alright everyone, we have other tasks we can be doing," he told the rest of the go team to get them to move.

"Stay here," Beckett said quickly to Castle before she walked after Skye.

"Are you coming in?" the woman asked, turning back to her.

"No, but I'll stand here, just in case," Beckett said.

"You'll need this," Skye said, going to a table and grabbing first another hard hat and then a flashlight. "I'm just checking the electronics bay and I'll head back out."

Looking inside the fore of the plane as Skye climbed in, Beckett could just barely make out her flashlight before the movement of light stopped. "Alright?" she asked as everything was quiet for a while.

"Fine," Skye said. "I'm only taking a look around to get my bearings."

After a few minutes, Beckett heard her sliding along the floor back out to her and she quickly moved out of the way as Skye jumped down to the ground. She pulled off her hard hat and set it on the table with the investigator's hat and flashlight, walking quickly to keep up with her. "You found what you were looking for?" she asked before her phone rang suddenly.

"That I'm not sure about," Skye said simply. "Looks like your team might have found something for your case though," she said, nodding to the phone Beckett was holding. Whistling then she called the rest of the go team to her and walked to where they gathered around Peter as she joined him.

"Ryan? Hold on," Beckett said quickly as she went to where Castle was still standing.

"We need every last electrical wire out of this plane Peter," Skye was saying.

"Alright, you heard her," Peter then yelled; the reason Beckett had put Ryan on hold. "Grab all the wires, keep them separate, we'll label them if we have to," he instructed the team.

"Peter and I are taking from the electronics bay to engine number one, Len and Bruce, you two take from the bay to number two and we'll look at those first," Skye said.

"Alright, let's go, we're focusing on electrical, Yvonne and Ian, you're with our two teams," Peter called as the others went over to the plane.

"Alright, go ahead Ryan," Beckett said once they were far enough away from the noise of the team working. She had her phone on speaker, but was watching as Skye disappeared back into the plane with Peter; knowing her co-IIC would keep an eye on her.

"We've been talking to everyone we could, not just at SeaTac though," Ryan said. "We started with the first vic's family and friends and one of her friends mentioned something about a stalker."

"When?" Beckett asked.

"They said a week after Thanksgiving," Esposito said. "The woman remembered as it was her kid's birthday and the vic told her about this guy following her around since Thanksgiving itself."

"Did she travel somewhere for the holiday?" Castle asked.

"She did, they took a Frontier Airlines flight out to Newark," Ryan said. "The friend said our first vic saw him there."

"How the hell would he know she was there," Beckett said.

"We were thinking that ourselves, we can't really figure it out," Esposito said.

"Do they get the newspaper?" Castle asked.

"A hold on their paper?" Beckett said. "Or their mail, one of you needs to call their Post Office in Denver, see if they canceled the mail for that trip and if maybe someone tried to check on that posing as the husband."

"And with the second vic we didn't get much," Ryan said. "But we did get word from a friend of hers that she was starting to talk about Skye a lot recently."

"In what context?" Castle asked.

"Just that she was thinking about contacting her again, seeing how she was," Ryan said. "But, her friend did mention whenever she said that, she would begin to act nervous and always was looking around."

"No mention of a stalker?" Beckett asked.

"I asked her, but she said no," Ryan said.

"Okay, what about our third vic?" Beckett asked.

"That one Espo took care of," Ryan said. "And he's on the phone still; just got a hold of someone after being on hold; so he'll have to call you back, if you're not back here then."

"Have him call me, it might take a while," Beckett said. "Thanks for making those calls though. Was there anything from tech or CSU?"

"Nothing on the picture," Ryan said. "And as for the video, they couldn't really get anything from the paper, just the letter W. But they did get something from what you can see of the suspect's face. A scar along his chin; from about the middle of his lip down underneath the fake chin."

"Okay, search the database for anyone with what little we know of what the killer looks like, and definitely include that scar," Beckett said. "Call me if you find anything." Hanging up she looked at Castle and said, "He's not as smart as he thinks he is if he didn't bother to cover that unique of a scar."

"What murderer is really," Castle shrugged. "What did it look like inside there?"

"I'm surprised at you," Beckett said, looking ahead. She could feel his gaze on her and finally said, "You listened to her."

"This is a little different from a crime scene," Castle said, watching as Skye came out with something underneath her arm, Peter following her. "And I had a vision of the plane collapsing on me because I touched something I shouldn't have."

"Alright," Skye said, glancing up as Castle and Beckett walked over to her. "We have our cause," she said as she unrolled the bunch of wires on a table and pointed to a section where the plastic covering was largely missing, the wires inside frayed. "It's TWA all over again."

"I know, you're right, but how the hell could it get like this?" Peter said, looking on as the Systems people rolled out the wiring from the other engine, revealing the state of the wire was much the same as the other.

"Well, there was the FAA mandate that they update the wiring on all 737s," the member of the team named Bruce said.

"That's true, that was about two years ago though," Skye mused.

"What are you thinking?" Peter asked as the Systems pair went back to the plane to help with the others dismantling the wiring.

"Maintenance," Skye said simply. "And it's Air Alaska again. They tried to get away with it for as long as they could, until time ran out."

"I'm sorry, can I ask something," Castle said. When the two IICs looked at him he said, "How could this cause them to lose both engines?"

"It's a good question," Peter said, glancing at Skye.

"And it's not for sure," the investigator said, looking back at him. "But my theory," she said finally with a sigh. "Is that the electrical current that was sending the warning to the flight deck managed to cross over to the wire for engine number two and it read as such. The wiring on a plane is not supposed to be as damaged as this, so the fact that it wasn't replaced points to maintenance error."

"You do realize what this means," Peter said then as they walked over to another table where some of the go team was leaving the wiring they'd found.

Skye didn't say anything, instead she held up a piece of wiring and said, "This could have been a lot worse."

"Skye," Peter said firmly, taking her arm and leading her to the entrance of the hanger. He looked at Beckett and motioned to her before he turned back to his colleague. "We need to find out where this plane was supposed to have the wiring replaced," he told her firmly.

Not saying anything, Skye took out her phone and dialed a number before walking outside into the sunlight to speak.

"She seems to have a lot of weight with airlines," Castle commented as they were watching her.

"It's her father, he was a respected pilot, and he knew a lot of people in the industry," Peter said. "They respect her because of him, and because she'll be fair in an investigation until evidence proves otherwise," he said with a sigh. A few minutes later the subject of their conversation walked over to them and he asked, "They told you?"

"DC," Skye said simply.

"Okay, we'll have to leave as soon as possible," Peter said, looking at his watch. "I can try and get us some tickets for later on in the evening."

"What do you mean we?" Skye asked, sounding a little panicked for a moment.

"You know I can't go alone, not when the case is like this," Peter said insistently. "There's no one else I trust more to speak to the maintenance crew than you."

"How can you ask me to do that?" Skye asked, her voice almost shaking in anger.

"Skye, it doesn't mean that will happen again," Peter said.

Beckett and Castle watched as the two began to argue with one another about going to Washington DC, not really understanding what the problem was as they slipped in and out of Welsh every so often and they were keeping their voices low. They tried to stop the argument, but couldn't manage to break into it long enough; only able to look on as it was obvious Skye was becoming angrier and more distressed.

"You're the IIC as well," Peter finally said. "And I need your help."

Rubbing her forehead, Skye took off the hard hat she was still wearing before throwing it forcefully down to the ground, stalking outside of the hanger.

"Don't," Peter said quickly, stopping Beckett from following her. "She'll calm down."

"Why is she reacting like that?" Beckett asked.

"A couple cases ago a Prism Airlines A340 crashed after takeoff in Seattle, turns out the maintenance worker who was cleaning the plane had forgotten to uncover the pitot tubes after completing his work," Peter said. "Skye interviewed him and when he realized what he'd done, the guy hung himself at the hangar the airline has at LAX. He and his wife had just had their first child two weeks before, a little girl."

"Does she blame herself for that?" Castle asked as they watched Skye who seemed to be watching the planes taking off on the runway they were closest to.

"Mary says constantly," Peter replied. "Even though she tried to assure him it was a mistake, he never intentionally set out to take down the plane. But… it wasn't enough. She seems to think now that maintenance workers at all airlines blame her for that, but they still respect her pretty much."

"Pretty much?" Beckett asked, wondering if there was someone who might hold a grudge against her.

"Believe me Detective, if there was anyone who put her in fear for her safety that was connected to the job, she'd report it. She is a mother now and very conscious of keeping her wife and daughters safe," Peter pointed out. He straightened up then as Skye walked back to them and he was quiet as she picked up her hard hat.

"Alright Peter, I'm coming, but I don't have to like the fact," Skye told him.

"Great, I'll give you the time of our flight later on and-" Peter started to say.

"Hold on, I forgot, I'm not sure what this means for your protection detail Beckett," Skye told her. "Unless you can contact DC police?"

"I'll have to take it up with Captain Gates," Beckett said, unsure if she was still required to protect the investigator herself. "And most likely Senator Pittman as well."

* * *

"Yes of course Senator, but Detective-" Gates was saying as she was speaking on the phone in her office. "I remember the letter… The command from the President, yes Senator. There won't be a problem allowing her to travel down to Washington, but I'm a little concerned in the request to let her partner go with her. He's a civilian-"

Beckett glanced at Skye questioningly at that, but the woman was listening to the conversation and didn't look over at her. She was tempted to look back at Castle who was sitting on the couch, but waited as Gates hung up the phone. "Am I going to DC sir?" she asked as the captain was quiet for a moment.

"You are, and for some reason you've requested Castle to join you," Gates said, looking at Skye.

"I know it's an unusual request sir, but I get the feeling the killer is following me, and I'd rather have his… thinking method in DC with Detective Beckett than back here at the Precinct," the investigator replied.

Castle was surprised that the woman was that astute even though she hadn't really been around Gates for so long. He knew that as soon as Beckett had left for DC, the captain would have tossed him out of the Precinct for the remainder of the case. But he had to wonder why Skye had asked for him to travel with them instead of just investigating the case from the station.

"I have no choice then," Gates said. "Senator Pittman requested that you go with her to DC, both of you. But I will give you the same warning after the mayor's request brought you back to the Precinct Mr. Castle. Embarrass the Precinct; in DC; and I will never let you set one foot back inside this station unless it's in handcuffs. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir," Castle said, holding back the urge to point out that wasn't exactly how she had worded it the first time.

"Fine, you leave for DC at six this evening, inform Ryan and Esposito that they're taking point for your case here," Gates said to dismiss them.

Leaving the office, Beckett said, "Why exactly did you want him to come?"

"You work better together," Peter answered for Skye; having been there as well to convince the captain to have both Beckett and Castle go with them. "And I get the feeling if you weren't going with us you'd be going home right now?"

"Pretty much," Castle said. "The Senator trusts you that much?" he asked Skye.

"Basically, that and he wants all of this solved," the investigator said simply. "Alright, I'm going to head back to my hotel, pack to go and I'll see you at the terminal at JFK?" she directed to Peter.

"In about two hours," he replied. "Detective, Mr. Castle, see you at JFK."

"There's another reason I agreed to go to DC," Skye said as they watched the IIC leave. Turning to walk back to the conference room to grab her things, she then said, "If I go, it's more than likely the killer will be following."

"You want to lure him out to more familiar territory," Beckett said.

"Yes, look, I know it's probably not the smartest thing to do, but I'd like to try and force his hand, get him to make a mistake," Skye replied. She saw the slightly irritated look on Beckett's face and said, "I know it puts me in danger, but what matters is that this stops before he kills anyone else I love."

"Even if the next person he kills is you," Castle said.

"I'll be careful," Skye said, looking at Beckett. "I'm going to pack up my things here, and I'll see you at JFK."

"Officer Thomas will escort you," Beckett said to that as she nodded to the officer standing next to the doorway to the room. "To your hotel and the airport. He'll be in your suite while you're packing, make sure you don't close any doors to him."

"Got it," Skye said before she turned to go into the room.

"Guys," Beckett said as she and Castle went back to her desk. "Anything?"

"Okay, so besides the third vic meeting that guy online who was posing as a friend of Investigator McDouglas', there was nothing that stood out on her end," Esposito said; having talked with Beckett about the third victim's encounters with the killer via online and telephone conversations at work. "And checking those numbers from her numbers, there was one around the time she was supposed to be talking to this guy and-"

"Burner phone?" Castle asked. When Esposito gave him a slight nod he said, "There's something else I don't get. We know she was supposed to be out here in the city to fly that plane to LA, but how would the killer know that?"

"I can answer that," Ryan said, handing Beckett a file. "Took a look at the British Airways website just now while you were talking with Gates. Turns out that's been on there since six months ago."

Looking down at the papers, Beckett saw there was an article about the new line of liveries for the planes, and a little about Skye herself. She saw that Ryan had highlighted one paragraph and she read it saying, "And there's the exact date and time of the flight leaving. And the calls to the third vic?"

"About a month later," Esposito said.

"So he saw the article, made sure he planned out what he had to do, and then started," Castle said. "But with the third vic first."

"Maybe he wanted to see how close she was with the investigator," Ryan said, nodding in the direction of the conference room.

"Most likely," Beckett said absently, still reading the paragraph. "It even has the terminal where the plane will be parked."

"Yeah, there wasn't really any reason to be secretive," Ryan said.

"Alright, so anything from the picture?" Beckett said, closing the file and crossing her arms.

"Not yet, I would like to call that friend of hers in the FBI," Ryan said, motioning to Skye with his thumb. "See if they can't do a better search."

"I'll give her a call," Beckett said, looking at her watch. "And then I need to go and pack before the flight. Are you going to be alright with things here," she stated instead of asking.

"Sure, we figured the killer will likely follow you down to DC," Esposito said.

"I'm pretty sure that's what we're all thinking," Castle said as Beckett left them. He was going to follow her, but his phone started to ring and he answered, heading over to the break room when he saw it was his mother.

Getting the phone number from Skye before the investigator left for her hotel, Beckett soon called the FBI agent she'd spoken to earlier that day, and was relieved when the woman agreed to take the picture and scan it through their database. "She'll be waiting for a fax of that," she said as Ryan walked over to her at her call. "And she'll begin the search tomorrow morning."

"She's working on a case?" he asked.

"She is," Beckett replied, throwing on her coat. "But she'll be in the office to do some paperwork tomorrow according to her, so she'll be free then. So send it out, and then I'd like you and Espo to take a look at the case from the beginning."

"Anything you want us to focus on?" Esposito asked, having been walking over to them as she'd said that.

"The three vics," Beckett said. "And what we found at the crime scenes. Whatever you can get that we might have missed, I'll take."

"Where'd Castle go?" Ryan asked after he and Esposito had agreed to that.

"I don't know," Beckett said, looking at her phone after putting her bag on her shoulder. She saw she had a text from him, but instead of looking at it she hurriedly tucked the phone into her pocket.

"Good luck in DC," Ryan said as she started walking to the elevator.

Waving her hand as Esposito echoed the sentiment, Beckett stepped inside the elevator and once the doors closed she took out her phone. She quickly answered Castle's message, texting him, _On my way out, tell Julia I will see her soon_.

* * *

"Here, let me grab that for you," Castle said after he'd opened the door for Beckett and saw she was carrying two bags. "Your dad called, he's on his way," he said as she stepped inside.

"He said he was going to call you," Beckett said. "I told him I got stuck in traffic but it cleared a little after we hung up." She heard some running upstairs and set down her bag before going over to the bottom of the stairs as her daughter came down.

"Mommy!" Julia cried as she went down carefully before almost jumping into her mother's arms. "Castle said you are going away?"

"Well, not going away," he said quickly.

"He's right, we're not really going away, it's for work," Beckett said. She kissed Julia's cheek before telling her, "We're going to Washington DC for a little bit until we finish with the case we're working on."

"Oh, that's where Grandpapa went didn't he?" Julia asked.

"It is," Beckett said. "And he's coming here right now to pick you up; you'll stay with him until we come home."

"Will Grandpapa pick me up at school?" Julia asked.

"He will," Martha said, having descended shortly after Julia had. "I'll be taking a brief trip to see some friends of mine, but I will be back soon myself."

"Kay, and I stay at Grandpapa's?" Julia said to her mother.

"You will," Beckett said, smiling at her daughter's excitement since she had only spent the night at her grandfather's once in the past.

"That'll be him," Castle said when there was a sudden knock on the door. "Jim," he said as he opened it. "Come on in, she got here a couple minutes after you called me."

"Hey Dad," Beckett said, hugging her father after she'd set Julia down. "Thank you so much for taking her."

"It's not a problem," Jim said as he picked up his granddaughter and hugged her tightly. After Julia had kissed his cheek he set her back down and took his daughter's arm before taking her over to the door of Castle's office to speak with her. "So you really got an order from the President?" he asked her.

"Yes, and I'm sorry I couldn't explain it any better than I did, but she's basically a Federal investigator, so I don't know if you want to hear anymore," Beckett said. "Even though he told his mother almost everything," she said, nodding to Castle who was coming out of his room with a bag.

"What I heard was enough," Jim said simply. "But you'll be careful."

Beckett was a little taken aback by that, as her father usually didn't say that to remind her. But she realized that he was talking about the flight and said, "I'll be fine, the investigator we're going to be traveling with knows planes, if that's any comfort," remembering he was never fully comfortable flying.

"It's safer to fly really," Castle said, walking over to them. "We better go, it's almost five."

Nodding, Beckett went over to where Julia was letting Martha help her into her coat and she picked up her daughter, hugging her tightly. "I know you'll listen to your grandpapa, so I won't tell you to be good. But pay attention in class and have fun at ballet okay?" she told her.

"I will Mommy," Julia said. "Will you call me?"

"I'll call later tonight once we're at the hotel so you know we got there okay," Beckett said. "And I'll let you know once we come back, as soon as I find that out."

"Kay, I love you Mommy," Julia said, hugging her tightly again and kissing her cheek.

"Love you sweetie," Beckett said before she handed Julia to Castle.

"Will you take care of Mommy?" Julia asked as soon as she was in his arms.

Glancing over at his fiancée, who was suppressing a smile at that, Castle looked at the little girl and said, "I always do, and I promise you that just because we're in a different city I won't stop. I'll miss seeing you though; you'll have to tell me what you learn in ballet while we're gone."

"I'll show you everything," Julia said seriously, nodding. "I'll miss you too."

Kissing her cheek as Julia kissed his, Castle hugged her one more time before setting her down and going to his mother.

"Be careful Richard," Martha said seriously.

"We'll be fine," Castle said, sharing a look with Beckett since he'd heard her father saying the same thing. "And we'll keep in touch too if that'll calm you down Mother."

"We'll call you both to let you know when we'll be coming back," Beckett said. "Bye sweetie," she then said to her daughter as she picked up her bag and Castle did the same. They left and as they got further down the hallway they both waved back at Julia who was standing outside the door with Martha and Jim, watching them go. "I have never seen my dad this worried," she said to Castle once they had turned the corner and were near the elevators.

"Or my mom, what is it about this that's so dangerous," he commented, pressing the button.

"For my dad it's the plane crash, we're going in a 737," Beckett said.

"We are? What airline?" Castle asked.

"American," Beckett said simply. "Skye called," she continued to his questioning look. "And she thought we might be a little nervous flying on that, but she kept saying it's one of the safest planes in the world. Finally I had to assure her we were fine, you've flown a lot, and I didn't care, I just need to do my job."

"That would explain why my mom was so uneasy, but still it's a little out of character for her," Castle said as they were going down to the lobby.

"It probably didn't help you told her what happened to all three vics," Beckett said simply.

"There's that… but we don't… or maybe now we are connected to Skye, but it's more of a working kind of acquaintance," Castle said.

"You're forgetting the picture," Beckett said. "And we haven't had another vic, so I think he's ready to make good on that threat."

Nodding absently, Castle then asked as they went through the lobby, "Wait, you said your dad goes to Spain at least once a year."

"He does, but that doesn't mean he enjoys the flight," Beckett said easily as she raised her hand to call a cab once they were outside.

* * *

Walking through Terminal 8 of JFK a short time later, Castle was looking around with Beckett, trying to look for a navy blue jacket. "Wait, there's Thomas," he said as she was about to start dialing on her phone.

"Detective," Officer Thomas said, heading over to them with Skye. "Nothing suspicious as we traveled from the Precinct to the hotel and from there to here."

"Thank you, I'll take over," Beckett said with a nod.

"Thank you," the investigator told the officer before he left them. "Okay, we need to get checked in, and Peter's up at the gate already."

"What happened to your jacket?" Castle asked.

"I'm not investigating right now," Skye said as they walked up to a set of computers. "Hurry; we need to get through security."

Checking herself in, Beckett glanced around them when she had finished and turned to Skye, seeing the investigator was watching her. "Just in case," she said simply.

"Can you get through security with that?" Skye asked as she nodded to her hip.

"It's not a problem," Beckett said. "Castle?" she asked as they were waiting for him.

"Yeah, I'm set," he replied then, getting his boarding pass. "So how is it you can get a flight so quickly?"

"They'll make an exception for NTSB investigators, so long as they're in that capacity," Skye said as they went over to the line for the security checkpoint. "But only in that case, if I tried to get a flight and they knew I wasn't involved in a case I'd be just another civilian."

Though it was later in the day, the security checkpoint still took a little time to get through, but they managed to get up to the gates and Skye led Castle and Beckett over to where she already knew their plane was, Peter sitting at the window.

"We're boarding in about twenty minutes," the IIC said, standing up when he saw them.

"How does she look?" Skye asked.

"I haven't checked," Peter said.

"Waiting for me?" Skye said, smiling slightly.

Looking at Beckett questioningly, Castle wasn't too surprised when she shrugged and he followed her as Skye and Peter walked over to the windows. He saw a plane parked at the gate, the jetway attached to it, and he glanced at the two investigators.

Doing the same, Beckett had to wonder what was going on as Skye's face was close to the window and her eyes were trailing down the fuselage of the plane before going up to the tail. She wanted to ask what she was doing, but the investigator spoke before she could.

"She looks good," Skye said simply. She turned towards Castle and Beckett and said, "Sorry, I should have warned you, but I make a quick check of the plane before I fly, whatever plane it is."

"She has a sixth sense about things," Peter said. "Remember that flight you took out of San Diego."

"Yeah, I can't forget that," Skye said.

"We have some time, I could use a coffee," Castle said, watching as Beckett took a picture of the plane with her phone. "Would any of you like some?"

"I'll join you," Peter said. "Skye, tea?"

"Thank you, but I'd prefer just some hot chocolate," Skye said.

"Right, how could I forget," Peter replied.

"Hot chocolate?" Castle asked as they left the two women at the window.

"It's a little tradition she has before every flight she takes," Peter said with a shrug. "Her daughters insist she does it."

Back at the line of chairs where they were sitting, watching ground crews working on the plane, Skye looked up from her tablet and asked, "Why a picture? Have you gotten into plane spotting?"

"Plane spotting," Beckett said slowly.

"Photographing planes," Skye said. "I do that with my wife and daughters some weekends in LA."

"Oh, no, I sent it to my daughter," Beckett said, showing her a picture of Julia she had on her phone.

"She looks sweet," Skye said. "My daughters," she said, opening a picture on her tablet and showing her. "Since we're doing the whole, sharing pictures of our kids bit."

"They're cute, how old are they?" Beckett asked.

"They'll be three December thirty-first," Skye said, smiling down at the picture. "Their names are Kathleen and Marie; we adopted them from Ireland two years ago."

"My daughter-" Beckett started to say.

"Julia, I know, I heard about you both," Skye said. "How is she?"

"She's doing well," Beckett said, smiling slightly at the text she got then from her dad. "Sorry," she said, looking up after answering back to Julia's message that the plane in the picture was pretty. "She just texted me, well, my dad did for her."

Skye nodded, and they were silent for a few minutes before she finally cleared her throat. "Something I've wanted to ask you," she said. "Since we're not focusing on our investigations. Hopefully it's not too forward. How long have you two been engaged?"

"Who?" Beckett asked in surprise.

"Who else would I connect you with honestly?" Skye asked in slight exasperation. "Castle."

"We're…" Beckett said. "Alright, is that something that's obvious because you're the second person to guess."

"Not guess I gather, but find out," Skye said. "And if you're married, you tend to recognize the signs. Plus, it's my job to read people remember; even if that job means I observe flight crews, I can still read civilians pretty well." Beckett was quiet, and she said, "Too personal? We don't really know each other… well, you know me fairly well after looking into my information."

"For a month," Beckett said simply before she saw that Castle and Peter were walking over to them.

"Congratulations," Skye said simply before she stood up. "Thank you," she told Peter as he handed her a cup. Her phone started to ring then, and she took it out of her coat pocket quickly, checking the number.

"Is that The Wife," Peter asked teasingly.

Shooting a mock glare at him, Skye then said in a sarcastic tone, "Yes that's The Wife; excuse me while I answer The Phone," before she walked down from them a little and sat down.

"You two talk like that a lot?" Castle asked.

"It's a joke, if it's my wife calling then we do the same thing, just reversed," Peter said. "Do you have anything at all on who the killer is Detective?"

"We have a possible way to find our suspect, but that needs to be done tomorrow morning," Beckett said simply, keeping an eye Skye as she remembered their conversation. "But we'll find him."

"Of course, excuse me," Peter said, looking past her suddenly before he walked over to the next gate as someone was waving to him.

"What were you talking about when we walked up?" Castle asked once they were alone. "You looked stunned."

"She knows," Beckett said, inclining her head towards Skye who was getting off the phone. "About our engagement," she explained further as the investigator went over to her colleague who was talking to two pilots.

"How… oh, that whole human factor part of her job," Castle started to say before he remembered. "Well, I get the feeling she'll keep that a secret."

"So do I, so I'm not really worried," Beckett said.

"Great, so what seat do you want, window or aisle?" Castle asked.

"You'll need to sit with Investigator King," Beckett said.

"Right, okay, well that's not a problem, on the way back we'll sit together," Castle said.

Smiling slightly, Beckett said, "It depends if I'm still protecting her."

"I'm sure we'll find out who he is," Castle said. "The boys have the FBI's help now."

"Vladimir is out of his mind," Skye said, laughing slightly as she walked back to Beckett and Castle with Peter.

"Well, he started out flying Tupolev planes, so you can't blame him for loving those most," Peter said. "I have to say, your Russian's still very crisp and clean."

"Interesting way to say that," Skye said, shaking her head.

"You know Russian?" Beckett asked.

"It's one of the languages I know," Skye said with a nod. "I take it from your tone you speak it as well."

Before Beckett could reply, an announcement came over a loudspeaker that their flight was boarding, and they went to turn in their passes and board first. She walked in front of Skye and the others; first as she'd made sure Peter had told the airline she wanted to check the plane.

Watching as Beckett went down the aisle, Castle heard Skye talking with the flight attendants, not surprised she knew them. It was when the pilot and co-pilot came out of the cockpit and talked to her that he was a little taken aback before he remembered she'd been talking to a Qatar Airways pilot only moments before.

"The flight deck is clear," Skye said as Beckett walked back to them. "Though if you'd like to you may check from the doorway."

"That's alright; I can see from here you're right. Thank you for your patience," Beckett told the flight crew.

"Is there a way we need to sit?" Skye said as they went down to their row.

"I'd prefer it if you sit at the window," Beckett said as they put their bags in the overhead bin.

With a slight nod, Skye was about to go to her seat when she paused and turned to Peter. "You faxed the pictures?" she asked him.

"They're in DC waiting at Headquarters," Peter said as he sat down.

Nodding, Skye went to her chair and sat down, buckling her seatbelt before she said to Beckett, "Pictures of the wiring. We'll need that for maintenance at Pacific Air." She then reached into the seat in front of her, pulling out the safety procedures and began to read it.

Watching her, Beckett was surprised, thinking the investigator would know already what she would need to do in an emergency situation. She reached for the one in front of her seat then, suddenly thinking of Julia. She felt a little foolish as she could see in her peripheral vision that Skye was glancing at her, but she didn't want to take the chance.

Sitting back when the flight attendants began their safety demonstration, Castle looked over at Beckett, seeing she was watching Skye. He leaned over a little to see her, and saw the woman was staring out the window. He was confused, until Peter suddenly spoke to him once the demonstration was over.

"She's looking at the engines," the investigator said. "They had the new GE engines installed on their fleet of 737s. How do they look?" he called across the aisle.

Giving him a thumbs up, Skye sat back in her seat and looked straight ahead as they were pushed out of the gate. Take off was smooth, and after leveling off she checked her watch briefly before saying, "We should get in at about seven."

"For a second it looked like you were doing the take off yourself," Beckett commented.

"I tend to in my head," Skye replied. "It's a habit, even though I don't really fly."

"Do you have a private plane?" Beckett asked.

"I used to," Skye said. "Before I got married I had a Cessna, but I sold it since Mary worries about me in it."

"But not commercial jets?" Beckett asked.

"Not really, go figure," Skye shrugged. She was about to say something else when a flight attendant came up to them to take their drink order. They both ordered a ginger ale and she then said as the flight attendant was talking to Castle and Peter, "Another tradition, though I've always done that since I was ten," since she'd told Beckett about her custom of having a hot chocolate before her flights.

"My dad does the same," Beckett replied. "You were going to say something though?"

"Thank you," Skye said as she took her drink from the flight attendant. "Yeah, I was, you seem like you want to ask me something. Is it dealing with the case?"

"I'm not sure, it might be depending on your answer; if you answer," Beckett said, not surprised she'd picked up on that. "You told me when I was talking to you about Sarah Kendall; there was something you mentioned about being a hypocrite concerning your wife."

"Oh, yeah, I'm not surprised that wasn't in the information on me," Skye said. She took a deep breath and said, "The Air Alaska case; and everything that happened with it; broke me and finally I quit NTSB West. I just packed up and left LA and lived in Ireland for about a year. I was asked back eventually after a case came up, by my friend and co worker, Robby Feith. He's a good friend so I decided I needed to go back, giving flying lessons for the 747 wasn't really as fulfilling as I'd hoped it would be. So I came home."

"I'm sensing there's more to your story than that," Beckett said as Skye paused.

"There is, you see, in my absence the President of the Board at NTSB West retired and a new one was chosen by Headquarters here in DC. Turned out to be Michael White, who absolutely hated me," Skye said. Before Beckett; who'd sat up at that; could say anything, she said, "He was on that flight with me in San Diego that crashed in the Pacific; he didn't make it."

"You would have mentioned him I'm sure," Beckett said.

"Not really," Skye said. "If the killer's working out of NYC, then it couldn't have been White since he's from LA, born and raised there. When I returned to West, he nearly blocked my reinstatement. But when the board threatened to take it to the Chairman of the NTSB at the time, he relented but only if I was put on probation. He used the excuse that I was too out of control in my investigations; citing my confrontation with the co-CEO of Air Alaska as evidence. And I was ordered to undergo therapy with a psychiatrist to see if I was able handle my job emotionally."

"Your wife," Beckett said.

"It was Mary," Skye said, nodding. "To make a long story short, we were attracted to each other after the first few meetings and I took my head out of my arse. By that I mean trying to shield myself from getting close to anyone. After I lost… my father, I was a shell of a person and growing up that way was not easy."

"You had your dad didn't you," Beckett said.

"To a point, I looked on him as a dad to a degree. I could never forget my father and I was afraid getting too close to my dad would end up getting me hurt again if anything happened to him. He was still a pilot then," Skye said. "But anyways, I never dated, not wanting to have to worry about someone that I might actually fall in love with. So I've always been seen as a kind of a loner."

"And her?" Beckett asked.

"She fought to make sure she stayed a part of my life," Skye said simply. "I resisted, well, to be honest I tried to ignore her, but she would always make excuses to talk to me. It didn't help she was a friend of my dad's and he made sure we were kind of thrown together as he didn't want to see me spending the rest of my life alone and could see what I felt for her but wasn't allowing myself to. About six months after I finished with my probation, we talked seriously. Well, it was more she sat me down and made me talk to her. And from that point we started our relationship, and here we are today," she said, waving her hands and indicating her silver wedding band with an opal at the top and an engagement ring with a blue gemstone and two diamonds.

"Any reason why you told me all that?" Beckett asked, knowing that under normal circumstances the investigator wouldn't really have revealed so much of her private life.

"Is Mary still a suspect?" Skye asked, twisting her engagement ring. When Beckett shook her head no she sighed and said, "I was afraid you might still think she was though you had cleared her."

"That's why you told Castle what you did about her," Beckett said.

"Pretty much," Skye said. "I'm getting the feeling though we're somewhat alike after telling you that story. You kept tensing up slightly when I said certain things." She held up her hand when Beckett was about to speak and said, "It's alright, you don't need to share."

"I wasn't really planning on it, but it's somewhat similar to your story," Beckett said. "Somewhat."

Having been able to hear them even with the sound of the engines, Castle glanced at the investigator next to him, seeing he was writing in a notebook. When he looked back at Beckett, he saw she'd taken her pendant out from under her blouse and was rubbing her thumb along the back. When he saw the three diamonds slightly flashing in the dim lights of the cabin his eyes widened slightly and he reached over, touching her arm rest.

Shaking her head, as she knew why he'd done that, Beckett watched as a flight attendant walked between them and then leaned over to Castle once the man had passed. "I'll explain later; if you want an explanation," she whispered to him.

"I don't need one, but I am really wondering about that," Castle said simply before he sat back.

Sitting back herself, Beckett glanced at Skye and said, "We're-"

"Hiding it, yes, I got that from seeing the way you both are around each other at the Precinct," Skye said. "And I'm sorry about overhearing that but… not much room for me to walk away."

"That's fine," Beckett said. "There's something else I have wanted to ask you, but not about the investigation."

"Well, I've told you about my wife and I, and Sarah," Skye began, stopping slightly when she said the third victim's name. "What else is there to say?"

"I said it wasn't part of the investigation," Beckett said. "It's about your daughters."

"Have you done this before? Gone off for a case?" Skye asked, guessing easily.

"Not so far away that I needed a plane to get there," Beckett replied. "But does it bother them at all when you do that, they're pretty young."

"They are, but they know I need to help the airplanes as Mary and I have explained to them a number of times," Skye said. "But it never gets any easier. I'm tempted sometimes when I'm far from home, especially overseas, and really want to get back home, to just resign for good and do something else. What I don't know, but I figure something I do already like… design liveries for airlines now BA has taken the designs I made for them." She glanced at Beckett and said, "Has your job ever made you think in that direction?"

"Sometimes, I almost resigned after I first adopted Julia," Beckett admitted.

"There are times when I know there will be something, a case, that breaks me down and I quit West," Skye said. "I just pray it won't be one that I'm involved in before the investigation begins, for my daughters' sake."

Murmuring an agreement, Beckett had to wonder if she could find herself in the same position; with something breaking her resolve to continue with Homicide and resign permanently. She took a deep breath and glanced at Castle before touching her pendant again, trying to think about the case so she wouldn't think of the different scenarios that came to mind of what might exactly happen to force her to make that decision.


	9. Easier To Tell A Lie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song See Yourself by George Harrison, from his album Thirty Three & 1/3.

"You're staying at the Franklin," Peter said as they walked from the jetway into Dulles Airport. "And tomorrow I'd like to head out to the Pac Air hangar at ten."

"Why so late? And why didn't we just come tomorrow morning?" Skye asked.

"No flights, I checked. And as for ten, I figure it gives the maintenance crew some time to get settled in their work. Put them slightly at ease," Peter said.

"What if they have a major fix?" Skye asked.

"I don't think so, they've grounded their 737s for the time being, so all they'll have are those in to take a look at them," Peter said. "The hotel is about six blocks from the airport," he directed to Beckett and Castle. "We need something close since that's where we'll be focusing on for right now. It's not a bad hotel if you're worried."

"I wasn't really, but security wise?" Beckett asked.

"Pretty good, sometimes dignitaries will stay here if they have very early flights out," Peter said. "But when I got the rooms I notified them that you probably wanted to check things out anyway. Oh, and there'll be someone from Metro PD coming in."

"Metro?" Castle asked.

"What we call the DCPD," Skye said. "Easier on the tongue."

"Excuse me," Beckett said as her phone started to ring. She went over to some empty seats near the gate and saw that it was Esposito calling. "Espo?" she said as she answered.

"Yeah, I've been trying to call you, you must have just landed," Esposito replied. "Listen, we got a call about ten minutes ago from that FBI Agent friend of Skye's. She was able to start the search with the picture and two minutes ago they got a hit."

"Who?" Beckett asked shortly.

"A Kyle Jansen," Esposito said. "He's a similar scar and everything; I sent you a picture of him. But get this, he knows Skye since he used to be a member of the FAA. And, according to the FBI, there was a disagreement in one of her cases three years back, between the NTSB and FAA."

"Finally, where is he now?" Beckett asked, sensing it was a break they could really use.

"In NYC, but he's not at his home," Esposito said. "We talked to his wife and he's been gone for a couple of days."

"But out an APB," Beckett said immediately. "Get his picture out to other Precincts, he needs to be found. And I need you to try and search today's security footage from JFK and La Guardia to see if you find him at any gates with flights going to DC."

"First thing in the morning," Esposito said. "You want me to contact the local PD where you are?"

"No need," Beckett said, seeing Castle was walking over to her. "I'm meeting someone at the hotel we're staying at. Call me the second you get anything at all." She said a quick goodbye to him, and then turned to Castle saying, "They got a hit on that scar."

"I thought she wasn't going to search until tomorrow," Castle said.

"She must have decided it was important enough not to wait anymore," Beckett said. "It's a Kyle Jansen."

"Kyle?" "Not Kyle," first Skye, then Peter said at the same time.

"Who is he?" Castle asked.

"He used to be FAA," Peter answered. "Hell of guy there too."

"I was told there was some kind of tension between you two," Beckett said, looking at Skye.

"Not, oh, damn it, the Suriname Airlines crash," Skye said, looking at Peter.

"Oh, right, I remember that one," he said. "I'll let you explain though, that was yours."

"It was a 747 that crashed in Utah," Skye said simply. "The cause was because of improper handling of the rear starboard cargo door by the ground crew. But looking into it further it turned out the airline had failed to heed a safety warning that Boeing had sent out about five years before, to start replacing the metal on the latches with titanium. We pushed for the FAA to enforce it here so it wouldn't happen, but got brushed off because the plane that crashed was owned by an international airline."

"Why was it flying to the East Coast?" Castle asked.

"I think the more important question is did being brushed off lead to any disputes or further problems between the two agencies?" Beckett said, glancing at him.

"It's not so much we're enemies, it's that the NTSB's recommendations are sometimes overlooked," Peter said.

"Kyle was different when he still worked for the FAA," Skye said. "He advocated whatever recommendations that he could, and in the case of the Suriname Airlines crash, he went too far. Or so the higher ups believed and they fired him."

"He would have a reason to resent the NTSB then," Beckett pointed out.

"No, he's always been friendly with us," Skye said. "He actually took a couple of classes that I did at the Academy, we were in Olivia's class," she said a little hesitantly as she looked at Peter. "So he knew her."

"Then is there a more… personal relationship between you two?" Castle asked, sensing the slight disappointment hearing that since they were sure their second vic hadn't known her killer. Though he had to wonder if maybe she'd known it was Kyle Jansen, but had never told anyone.

"And when was the last time you two have spoken?" Beckett asked.

"To the first question, we're both married to other women," Skye said simply. "And to the second, probably not for a year. I heard he got remarried recently; had a divorce about a year and a half ago," she said questioningly as she looked at Peter.

"Yeah, I heard the same," he replied. "But he's a good man; I really can't see him involved with anything like murder."

"We'll have to talk to him still," Beckett said, not wanting to reveal that he'd been identified from a database. When they were walking again, she made Skye hang back from the other two a little and said, "Your friend at the FBI helped us out."

"Yeah, I figured," Skye said. "That picture you got of a guy with a scar?"

"He has a similar one," Beckett said, wondering how that slipped her mind.

"In the scheme of things, I haven't talked to him for a year, and that scar is not something I roll around in my mind constantly," Skye said, knowing what she was thinking. "Plus that fake chin threw me off, his scar used to go down all the way under his chin; Kyle's I mean."

"Used to?" Beckett asked in surprise.

"Well, yeah, whatever picture you found of him must have been his FAA ID, the last time I spoke to him he said he had cosmetic surgery scheduled to get rid of it," Skye said. "Oh, you don't have him in custody so you don't know. I mean, he could have easily canceled the procedure, could very well still have that scar."

"We'll have to see," Beckett said. She lengthened her stride then and grabbed Castle's arm, pulling him back a little and hurriedly telling him everything she and Skye had said.

"If that's the case, then-" Castle began.

"He's trying to set him up," Beckett and Castle said together.

"But I have to wonder why him," she said. "As a suspect he doesn't seem that likely, especially since he's on friendly terms with Skye and he might not have the scar."

"Or it's a scar in a similar place," Castle mused. "But not the exact same."

"If we can find Jansen and get an alibi, then we'll have to see if her friend at the FBI can try and run it through again," Beckett said. "And hope that he'll be in the database as well."

* * *

An hour later, Skye was standing with Castle in the doorway as Beckett walked around one of the two suites they were going to use, a detective from the 88th Precinct of the Washington DC Police Department in the other, checking to make sure they were both secure.

"Alright," the detective said, walking into the room. "Everything's set there."

"Same as this one," Beckett said. "Thank you Detective Hopper I appreciate your assistance."

"Not a problem, goodnight Detective, Investigator," the man said before nodding to Castle and leaving.

"I suppose now's the time we see how this will work for the night," Skye said shortly as she picked her bag up off the floor and went to the bedroom door. "Oh, two beds. Great, I need to have my equipment here, so I'm afraid you'll need to bunk with Castle, Beckett."

"I-" Beckett began to say as Skye put her bag on one of the two twin beds in the room.

"I'll leave the connecting door on my side open of course, and won't lock the door to this room. I'll be fine," Skye said as she pulled out her laptop, tablet and some scrolls of paper from the compartments in her bag. She looked up at the two and said, "Oh, you probably would like to know our plan of action tomorrow. Well, the idea is to go to the hangar as you heard Peter said. We'll find out from the records who was supposed to be replacing the wires, and see the paperwork filed. From there we'll start interviewing whoever we need to."

"Do I really need to be here?" Castle asked.

"There's another reason I asked," Skye admitted then. "Detective Ryan informed me you were able to once look at some paperwork for a case, and was able to see it was altered."

"Yeah, I was, but that doesn't mean I could do it again, it's going to be a different form," Castle said quickly.

"But you have a keen eye," Skye said simply, seeing the realization on Beckett's face. "You as well I think," she then directed to her. "But, I'm guessing I'll have to stick close to you?"

"Pretty much, but I'll try not to hinder the investigation," Beckett said. "We'll see you in the morning; you'll take meals with us just in case he wants to go that route."

"Sure," Skye said absently as she turned on her tablet. "Goodnight," she said, looking at them and realizing they hadn't left yet. "Oh, they have a coffee maker here, alright to make my own tea?" she asked.

"Yeah," Beckett said slowly. She then realized why the woman had asked that, and said, "I might be a little too careful right now, but I don't want to have to explain to Senator Pittman and the President why I was lax in my assignment should anything happen to you."

"I appreciate your thoroughness, but I'll be fine," Skye said. "Goodnight Beckett, Castle."

"Night," Castle said as Beckett said the same. He stopped in the entry to the suite after they'd left the room, grabbing their bags still there before he went into the other suite after her. "Not bad," he said, looking around.

"I know, listen, I'd like to take a quick look at the case," Beckett said as she closed the door to Skye's suite partially and then left theirs open the same amount of space. "I took a picture of the murder board and have copies of the files with me."

"Sure, coffee?" Castle asked as he went into the bedroom, hearing her agree to that. He looked at the queen sized bed and set their bags down there before he left to make their drinks. "Nice bed in there," he commented.

"I know, I took a quick look before you went inside," Beckett said quickly as she was putting her laptop on the table and loading the picture of the murder board from her phone onto it. "Hope you don't mind sharing."

"I wonder how long she's known," Castle commented, knowing that was a joke.

"Probably since I settled in at your station," Skye called through the open doors. "They are open so I couldn't help overhear. Goodnight."

"Night," Beckett said, smiling. "So we're okay."

"Yeah, she's pretty nice not mentioning it," Castle said. "I wonder why she said something to you though," he then said towards the doors. When there was no answer he shrugged and then went to the table with the two mugs of coffee he'd made. "Not sure how these are, but they say they're from Hawaii, which I was not expecting in DC."

"Thanks," Beckett said absently, having been looking at her laptop screen. "Okay, so we have the first vic, Lenora Jenkins. We think she escaped from wherever it was the killer was holding her with the other two vics, and killed her instead of dropping her off at a park like the other two."

"Which he did since parks are very public," Castle said. "I'm kind of confused on why he didn't take the body to a park?"

"I'm starting to think it was because he had no transportation," Beckett said, holding up her pen in her hand as she thought it out in her head. "And the security guard for the building on the right side of the alley said he saw the killer stepping back before he saw the body and called the police."

"So he left, but he probably tried to come back with transportation to get her body, when he saw it had already been discovered," Castle said. "So that took care of that for him. What about looking at the security cameras in the area for a suspicious looking car?"

"As early as it was, and deserted as the area was, Ryan did try to find a car to check out, but not any of the few that were acted in a suspicious manner," Beckett said. "And then there's Olivia Hurst. Left in Central Park near her home, but no one saw anything except for the guy leaving on a motorcycle."

"And we checked cameras in the area, nothing with that either," Castle said. "And last Sarah Kendall," he said, lowering his voice and looking over at the doors.

"Yeah, stabbed in the face so many times her eyes…" Beckett said, putting the picture of the victim aside hurriedly, not wanting to see it. "And nothing except the witness who saw the wheelchair and couldn't describe the man with it. We did get the ATM footage though, so it wasn't a total bust that time."

"No," Castle said, watching as she took a sip of her coffee and then looked down at it. "Forgot to warn you, it's a little strong."

"That's alright," Beckett said. Her phone started to ring next to her left hand, and when she saw who it was she swore and picked it up, hurrying into the bedroom.

Going after her, Castle could hear her saying, "Hey Dad, yeah, I'm sorry I forgot, I got a little caught up with talking to Esposito and then the PD down here at the hotel."

"Would you like to talk to Julia, she's waiting to say goodnight," Jim said.

"Yeah, I would," Beckett said, looking up at Castle and seeing him nod before he walked to her. "Hey sweetie," she said as she saw her daughter appear on the screen.

"Hi Mommy, hi Castle, how was it flying?" Julia asked. "On the pretty plane?"

"It was fun, it was a short trip," Castle said for Beckett. "When we go to San Francisco we'll be flying for a lot longer."

"I can't wait," Julia said happily. "Did you finish your case Mommy?"

"Not yet," Beckett said, smiling. "But I promise that we're trying to as fast as we can. But until then you can spend time with your grandpapa."

Sighing, Julia said, "I wish you were here too."

"I'll be back," Beckett said gently. "Don't worry. Alright, it is getting late and you have school tomorrow sweetie. Good night Julia, I love you," she told her, blowing her a kiss.

"Love you Mommy," Julia said, smiling a little before she blew her mother a kiss.

"Night Julia, we'll talk to you tomorrow okay?" Castle said.

"Kay, night Castle," Julia said, waving to him.

Once Julia had handed the phone to her father, Beckett spoke with him again as Castle went out to the main room, sitting back at the table. He called his mother while he waited for her to get through her conversation, and assured her they'd gotten to DC without any problems. Hanging up a few minutes later after saying goodnight, he looked up to see that Beckett had changed. "Going to bed?" he asked in surprise to see her with her pajamas on.

"No, I just wanted to be more comfortable," Beckett said. "Plus, I honestly don't think we really have much else to look at in the case. Not away from the Precinct."

"So we're set on the timeline of the vics getting to the killer, their murders, the times they were left where they were found," Castle said. "We have no real suspects, even this Jansen guy doesn't seem like he'll pan out."

"We'll see what the boys can get tomorrow," Beckett said, closing the picture on her computer. She was quiet then, and they could both barely hear the sound of Skye in the other room talking on the phone in the bedroom since it was so muffled.

"Her wife?" Castle asked as Beckett closed the laptop and picked up the papers.

"Probably," she replied. "We better give her a little privacy," she said as Castle took over putting all the papers and files into a neat stack.

"Sure, but it's still kind of early," Castle said.

"We can watch something," Beckett said. "It would be nice to relax a little."

"I'll find something after I change," Castle told her before she went into the bathroom. He quickly threw on his pajamas and got on the bed, looking at her tablet before he remembered something he'd been wanting to look at.

"Wow, whatever you found must be pretty interesting," Beckett said when she came out to find him staring at the screen intently.

"Huh?" Castle asked, looking up.

"Good comeback, what is it?" Beckett asked, getting on the bed then and sliding against him as he held his arm out to her.

"Something I remembered her mentioning," Castle replied as he held the tablet with both hands as she pressed against his side, sitting on her knees.

"Hmm, was half expecting porn," Beckett said, seeing he was looking at YouTube.

"That was earlier," Castle said jokingly before she nudged him in the side. "No, it's that show she was talking about, _Air Crash Investigation_. I decided to see if I could find the episode that's about the crash she was in."

"And they have it," Beckett said, seeing the name of the episode. " _Betrayal on the Runway_?"

"Yeah, I don't get it, but that's what it's called," Castle said, shrugging. "You mind checking it out?"

"Go ahead," Beckett said.

Watching the episode together, they were a little horrified to hear the other survivor of the crash's account though it wasn't in a lot of detail since the man had only been 5 years old. There was a mention of Skye, but it was very brief and was accompanied by a picture of her that was her ID picture from the NTSB. At the end of it, there was another photograph shown, of a little girl in a stretcher and neck brace; Skye.

"I think I understand now why she was as withdrawn as she said she was," Beckett said. "That was disturbing."

"Yeah, I really don't understand how she can investigate these crashes," Castle said. "I know she's doing it to make sure people don't go through what she did, but it has to be hard to go to the scene of a new accident."

"If this FAA guy doesn't work out," Beckett said as Castle was scrolling through a list of episodes of the show. "I think I'll have the boys start looking into the people on the flight. Maybe someone related to the crew and passengers that died are our killer."

"That might be a long list," Castle said. "Since the plane made a stop in the city before going on to LA, what if most of the passengers in the accident got on there?"

"It's been almost thirty years since it happened," Beckett said. "They can't all be living in New York."

"Worth a shot," Castle said with a shrug. "I just hope it's not going to be a problem for them to look through the list. 747s hold a lot of seats."

"We'll see once we get a hold of Jansen," Beckett said. She was about to say something else when Castle's phone started to ring, and she watched him pick it up, seeing the picture on the screen. "Your mom must have mentioned our little trip," she said with a smile, getting off the bed.

"Hey Alexis," Castle said, wanting to comment on what Beckett had said, but knowing he needed to talk to his daughter.

Getting a glass of water after taking one of the water bottles in the mini-fridge, Beckett heard Skye talking through the open doors. She went over and knocked on the one to the investigator's suite, saying quickly when the woman opened it, "Sorry, I thought someone was in there with you."

"No, I'm talking to my wife and kids," Skye said with a slight smile. "And heading to bed right now. Going to be a long day tomorrow I think."

"Right, goodnight," Beckett said as she saw Skye had her thumb over the mic.

"Night," she answered, closing her door slightly.

Going back into the bedroom, Beckett sat next to Castle, but that time she was facing towards him, hearing his half of the rest of the conversation as she sipped some of her water.

"Yeah, no, I don't know exactly why she needed me when Beckett could easily check," Castle was saying. "But she knows about us. No Beckett talked to her on the flight down. I know, your gram said the same thing to me before we left; the flight was fine. But we are going to be careful; you know she will be definitely. Okay, go ahead to Study Hall, and I'll talk to you once we get back to the city. You want to talk to Julia? Well, not now, she's asleep, or should be," he said as he looked at Beckett who smiled slightly at that. "But call her tomorrow, you have her grandfather's number right? Okay, then I guess that's it for now. Yeah, I love you too sweetheart, bye."

"It's very sweet of her to call Julia," Beckett said, handing him the glass.

"Well, Julia misses her, and Alexis misses Julia," Castle said. "Really glad they get along so well."

"I know," Beckett said with a smile as she watched him finish the water that had been left. "She was worried about you flying too?"

"The accident is pretty big news," Castle said, setting aside the glass on the nightstand next to his side. He then grabbed her hand and pulled her to him so she was sitting against his side as she'd been before. "But I assured her Skye's a great investigator and a good pilot."

"Did you ever tell her or Julia you flew?" Beckett asked, smiling again.

"No, I should try and remember to do that," Castle mused. "Julia will think it's cool. Alexis' reaction might be more like yours; you thinking I'm like a little boy flying that simulator."

"Which you were," Beckett said, watching as he scrolled down the page he was on. She smiled briefly when he sighed and she kissed his cheek lightly. "Sorry, it was too easy. What are we doing now?"

"I wanted to watch this episode," Castle said, showing her the page he had opened on YouTube.

"It's about Air Alaska," Beckett said in surprise. "She never mentioned it."

"Think she's in it?" Castle asked.

"I would imagine, though it sounds like it's kind of a personal case for her," Beckett said. She looked on as he played the clip, and they watched the episode, a little startled to see Skye in the opening of it. When they had finished watching it through about forty-five minutes later, she said, "So that was our third vic," since Sarah Kendall had been on the show and it had even talked about what she had done after the case had been solved.

"And now we know what exactly happened in court that Skye mentioned," Castle said. "You're sure we cleared everyone at Air Alaska?"

"Everyone," Beckett said, taking the tablet from him and setting it on the nightstand on her side. "Speaking of airlines, what did you two end up talking about on the flight down?"

"Nothing really," Castle replied as he watched her pull up the covers on them both. When she started to lie down he followed her and said, "Nothing personal like you and Skye did apparently," as he reached over and raised her pendant and engagement ring on his fingers.

"She interviews people, so have I, it seemed to happen naturally," Beckett said, avoiding what he obviously wanted to know. "And she knows how to be discreet," she then said, taking back her necklace to let it rest on her chest as he slid his hand under the covers and over her hip.

"True, and I'm guessing you have a kind of mutual respect," Castle said. Seeing her nod he then said, "And she doesn't annoy you like I did."

"Different circumstances," Beckett said, smiling somewhat. "But she's like Rebecca Foster; they both seem to make me a little more open. I can't really understand how because I've never really talked to them like I do to Lanie or my other girlfriends."

"It's the respect, that and you didn't really have a chance to hide us from them like we've done with Lanie and the boys," Castle said.

"You make a good point," Beckett said. "But she won't talk about it; she knows we're hiding this. Actually, she told me she went through kind of a similar thing when she and her wife first got together."

"They did," Castle said.

Nodding, Beckett quickly related what she and Skye had discussed towards the end of the flight, when she had asked about if she and her wife had gotten into trouble for being in a relationship and Mary having been her psychiatrist for six months. "So they were able to get out of the so called charges that White tried to level her with. She was lucky everyone else on the board voted that the relationship wasn't a violation, since by the time they'd gotten together it was well past the time that she'd been under probation," she finished with.

"And this guy?" Castle asked, wondering why she hadn't mentioned him as a possible suspect.

"He was on that flight that crashed by San Diego," Beckett said. "He didn't make it."

"Oh," Castle said. "Then that explains it. But, one thing I'm wondering about-"

"I just felt like having it with me," Beckett said quickly, cutting him off. "I was packing and decided to take it. Plus, the fact we're in a city where people don't know us, well, me, helps. I don't need to worry about making sure this is tucked under my blouse or sweater every second."

"Just wondering," Castle said, rubbing her side as he heard her tone of voice was a little defensive. "Actually I'm pretty glad to see it."

"I can imagine," Beckett said smirking a little. She leaned up then and kissed him on the lips carefully before turning to shut the lamp on the nightstand behind her. After he'd done the same she pressed close against him saying, "I miss her already."

"This is the furthest you've been away from her isn't it?" Castle asked. When Beckett nodded he pulled her tighter to him and said, "I miss her too."

"Really? You're sure you're not thinking of Alexis?" Beckett asked.

"I miss them both," Castle said firmly.

Smiling slightly, Beckett nodded though she wasn't sure he would see that, and then said, "It'll motivate us, make us work harder to get this case finished… if he followed us down here."

"We'll find out tomorrow," Castle said. He leaned down then and kissed her a little carefully at first on the lips, wanting to gauge her reaction. When her first response was to kiss him back roughly, he immediately deepened it, and groaned a little throatily as she wrapped her arms around him, pulling them completely against one another. When they parted to breathe, he looked down at her and saw that she still had her eyes closed.

Looking up at Castle, Beckett had to smile as she saw the expression on his face and brushed her lips against his. "Get some sleep," she said before letting go of him and turning onto her side looking away from him.

"Right," Castle said absently, watching her. He was quiet to let her fall asleep, but found he wasn't that tired yet. He had no idea how long he was like that, but finally he turned onto his side to lay behind her, and fell asleep shortly after, his hand at some point draping over her side without him even knowing he was doing so as he pressed close against her.

* * *

"Skye?" Beckett asked, knocking at the door.

"Yeah, come on in," Skye replied. "Sorry," she said, looking up from where she was sitting on the couch. "Just putting on my boots," she explained as she zipped up her shoe and stood up. "They can be hard to get on with a heel."

"Understandable," Beckett said. "Are you going in yet?" she asked, seeing the investigator was wearing a new NTSB polo shirt.

"Not yet, I heard a tray over on your side, was hoping it was breakfast," Skye said before Beckett nodded. "Anything about your case? No… no new victims right? You would have told me already I'm guessing."

"She would have," Castle said. "And say boots again," he told the woman as she was pouring some tea into a mug.

"Boots, you didn't heard me before when we were talking about your books?" Skye said, sitting down with the cup.

"Sorry, I just enjoy the pronunciation," Castle said with a slightly abashed smile. "Not in an offensive way."

"Didn't take it as such, I've heard the same request many times," Skye said. "Detective?" she directed to Beckett.

"No new vics, however, Ryan and Esposito managed to find Jansen, and finished speaking with him ten minutes ago," she replied. "Turns out he was crashing with a friend whose fiancée had just dumped him, and they were visiting a large number of strip clubs to help the friend get over it and left both their phones at one of them."

"Well, sweet of him to try and cheer up his friend I suppose," Skye said. "And his alibi goes through yesterday and Monday?"

"It does, they just confirmed at the clubs they were at the times… relevant to the case," Beckett said, correcting herself as Skye was picking up some toast on a tray.

"And we talked to the FBI about that scar; oh, the boys, Ryan and Esposito confirmed what you said about it, it was gone," Castle said. "But the FBI did a little work on the picture and they think the scar is real, it's just not Jansen."

"So is the picture of any use to you at all?" Skye asked, setting down the slice of toast in her hand.

"There might be, they're now trying to see if they can make a sketch from what they can tell about the killer's face underneath the sunglasses and prosthesis," Beckett said. "So we're waiting now for that."

"Okay, so," Skye said, finishing her tea quickly. "As far as I know Peter will meet us at the offices for the airline that are inside the hangar. Not quite sure how he wants to handle this once we're in, but I hope he has some kind of plan."

"Plan for what?" Castle asked.

"Well, the wiring not being replaced could lead to the maintenance worker or workers being charged with negligent homicide," Skye explained. "And they'll know it; whoever it was who signed off the papers saying the procedure was completed. So we may have to become cops for a moment. And I mean that with the deepest respect," she said, nodding to Beckett.

"I got that," she said. "So you'll be trying to get a confession."

"It doesn't necessarily have to be a confession like you're thinking of," Skye said simply. "An admission of guilt is fine, or implication that they were told to not replace the wiring in the plane; which I'm really hoping doesn't happen."

"Why?" Castle said. "Isn't the idea to find who's responsible?"

"A directive like that can come from anyone higher up in the company," Skye said.

"And you know the CEO," Beckett said as she remembered.

"Pretty much. But everything depends on the file we get at the offices," Skye said. "It would be helpful if you could make sure your weapon is hidden when we go. It's bad enough they're going to see me and Peter in our jackets, I don't need them panicking at a detective there as well."

"I'll be careful," Beckett replied. "There's something I wanted to ask you," she continued with. "You never mentioned you were on that show, _Air Crash Investigation_."

"I… oh, that's right, sorry," Skye said, looking confused before realization quickly spread across her face. "That was way back in the first season of the show, so it slipped my mind."

"Did you get any kind of response after the episode aired?" Castle asked.

"You mean hate mail, or something negative?" Skye asked in reply. When he nodded she shook her head and said, "Nothing actually, if they hid any fan letters that were violent or angry, I wouldn't know. You would need to ask the company that makes it; Cineflix."

"I'll ask Ryan to give them a call," Beckett said, looking down at her phone to start texting. She looked up as Skye's phone on the table rang, and then watched the investigator walk over to the large window in the room to answer it.

Watching Skye, Castle guessed that it was Peter King from the way she was talking. He was surprised at her more upbeat tone of voice, and when she hung up asked, "Good news?"

"Well, not exactly yet, I need to call the CEO of Pacific Air, and get permission from him to look into the records," Skye replied, dialing on her phone quickly.

"He'll contact the company," Beckett said. "Its headquarters are in Montreal." She looked over at Skye and said to Castle, "Are you going to behave?"

"Yeah, I don't need to mess up a federal investigation," he said. She nodded, and started to put her cup of coffee to her lips before he continued with, "But if I see a chance to help her case along I won't hesitate."

"Oh, I know that already, I was expecting more than that answer," Beckett said, pretending to sound annoyed. She then said seriously, "Just don't get her killed or worse."

"I doubt he will, we, Peter and I; have permission to go through the hangar and offices to do whatever is needed for the investigation," Skye said, hanging up her phone. "Whenever you're ready let me know, I need to call Peter and let him know." With that she disappeared into her room, not noticing the slightly surprised look that Castle and Beckett shared in response at the eagerness in her tone of voice.

* * *

"You know, when you said you had permission to be here, I really thought you had permission," Castle said as they entered the records room in the offices of Pacific Air at Dulles.

"Yeah, well, I have no idea what the hell he's thinking Peter," Skye said to her colleague. "He knows we can be here, which means he knows what we're looking for."

"Which means at least it's still here," Peter replied. "Go ahead, I'll watch the door, and call the CEO, tell him to call that jackass to get him off of us."

Nodding, Skye hurried to the back of the room, Castle and Beckett following her before she said, "Sorry about the sneaking around."

"I don't think it was planned, so you don't really need to apologize," Beckett said. "Great that you know the secretary."

"Lucky that I did," Skye said. She stopped at the files that were in the very back, sectioned off from the rest of the room. "Okay, I need you to help me find the date the procedure was scheduled, August two years ago. It should be written down at the top of the file 8/12," she told them as she looked into the drawer of one filing cabinet.

Splitting up behind her, Castle went to his left while Beckett turned around and went to the cabinet next to the doorway. She opened the top drawer on it, and saw she was on the year 2011. She went to the files in the back, seeing they went to August, to which she closed the drawer and then went down to the next. "I've got it," she said as she saw the 8/12 that was written at the top of the file that Skye had described. "Look at the sticker this is written on," she said as Skye and Castle hurried up behind her.

"The hell is that doing there?" Skye said, shaking her head as she took it and went to the table in the middle. "That makes no sense because the file is pretty much worthless, it's the papers that matter, unless…"

Looking on as Skye opened up the file, Castle jumped a little when the investigator slammed her fist onto the table. "Are those the papers?" he asked, figuring out what she'd been talking about.

"No," Skye said angrily. "They're fake, see this one, it's to say the procedure was completed after a month, there's no date stamp on it though, and the number for the plane is totally wrong, it's from another procedure. I need to tell Peter-"

"I have the file here," a voice said behind the three, making them turn almost at once; Beckett starting to reach for her gun. "Sorry, here, it was in the file in Mr. Olsen's office. He had me put it there but I didn't know why until your partner told me the date and I remembered that since it's my mother in law's birthday," the secretary who had snuck them into the room said, almost babbling.

"Thanks, go Jenna, I don't want you fired," Skye said, squeezing her arm in gratitude before the woman left. She turned back to the table, pushing away the file before putting the new one down, nodding at the writing on the tab; since it matched the writing on the tabs of the other files. She opened it, and then saw the incomplete paperwork for the replacement procedure, sighing deeply in frustration. "Alright, we need to find Peter, and Castle; I need you to take pictures of these with your phone so we have a copy while I tell him who we need to talk to."

* * *

Walking back inside the room where the other three were waiting, Peter slammed the door behind him and shook his head at Skye. "He's not cooperating. Bastard strung me along, trying to say he wasn't even there that day," he told her.

"Okay," Skye said. "How was he talking though?"

"Confrontational, probably better that you didn't go in," Peter said. "Why?"

"I'm just trying to figure out what I can do to get him to incriminate himself more, we need to know who made the decision to cover up their failure to change the wiring," Skye said. "I think I have an idea."

"Really, because he's not going to talk to anyone with the NTSB now," Peter said, motioning behind him with his thumb. "What can you do that will make him."

"Not make him, but distract him into an admission," Skye said. She turned to Beckett, looking at her closely as the detective looked back at her questioningly. She then began to remove her jacket saying, "I need you to take that off. Now."


	10. A Fool Unto Himself

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title of this chapter is actually a little bit different, it was spoken by John Lennon and then spoken and sort of sung by Paul McCartney after in the song Rocky Raccoon (Take 8) by The Beatles, from their album Anthology 3.

"Okay, so I might have wanted to word that a different way," Skye said as she waited for Beckett. "But you got the idea."

"After you told me, yes," she replied.

"Was pretty funny the way Castle reacted though," Skye said as they walked out of the room and down the stairs to the second hangar. "Thought his eyes were about to pop out of his skull."

"Which you can't blame him for," Beckett said, glancing down at Skye's NTSB jacket she'd put on at the investigator's insistence. "So what exactly are you thinking of doing with me wearing this?"

"He didn't see us walk in," Skye began. "So he doesn't know who you are. At least I'm hoping. With that on, you're working with me. The idea is Peter was too much of a threat to him, the way he spoke it was as if he's one of those macho guys who'll become defensive if he's threatened by another man."

"And we're going to distract him?" Beckett asked, wondering where exactly she was going with that.

"No, I will, you're here because that's part of your job right now, second it wouldn't hurt to have a second woman there," Skye said. "Remember I said I wanted to distract him. But I'll be in charge."

"Great, since this is way out of my job description," Beckett said. She stopped Skye then by touching her arm and said, "Do you want me to say anything?"

"If you find you have the chance, yes," Skye said. "You just standing there is going to be a little suspicious."

"He's not going to be suspicious you're not wearing a jacket?" Beckett asked as they walked again.

"No, I have my ID in clear view, and this shirt is enough," Skye said. "I'm not always wearing the jacket."

"Let's just hope he doesn't ask to see my ID," Beckett commented.

Faltering a little in her step, Skye then continued on and said, "We'll cross that bridge should we come to it." She walked over to a man working on a panel of a 737 near the tail and called up, "I'm looking for Lance Morrison."

"That would be me," the man said, glancing down at her. "Oh, you're with the NTSB too?"

"Yeah, my colleague and I would like to speak with you if that's possible," Skye said.

"Sure, better than talking to that other investigator," Morrison said derisively before he turned to go down the stairs to where they were standing.

"I'm Rose and this is Kate," Skye said, feeling Beckett's gaze on her at that. She kept on going though, saying, "We're here looking into Flight 309."

"Yeah, I got that," Morrison said in annoyance. "That's what that guy said, but I need to get this hydraulic piping replaced so I just tuned him out. So what do you need and make it quick I need to finish."

"You were scheduled two years ago to replace the wiring in the 737 that flew," Skye said. "I've been checking the paperwork here," she said, turning to Beckett who she had given her file to so it would seem like the detective was working with her. "And it says you completed it about three weeks after."

"That's right, so?" Morrison asked, shrugging and not even looking at the paper.

"But looking at the wiring here," Skye said, holding up the picture of the wiring from the engines to the cockpit. "You never even attempted to try to replace it."

"Then it must have been Jose, I left-" Morrison said, glancing at the picture once but quickly looking away.

"I don't think so," Skye said angrily.

"I'm telling you the truth," Morrison said.

"We found the falsified documents and the actual ones that weren't filled out at all," Beckett said, quickly speaking to calm Skye down.

"Is there any reason you can explain why you did this, and sent six people to their deaths?" Skye said simply, seeing the arrogance in the man and knowing that even with him realizing people died in the crash, he wouldn't care.

"Look, papers are not going to prove I was here," Morrison responded. "And neither can you." With that he grabbed the papers in Skye's hands and punched her in the shoulder hard enough to push her back into Beckett who dropped all the investigator's papers in the file as she tried to keep herself from falling back too.

When she had gotten her balance back, Skye took off after Morrison, not hearing Beckett shouting for her to stop.

Yelling Skye's name a second time in frustration, Beckett ran after her, knowing she was intent on stopping the man. She had to wonder if the investigator had a right to do that though, but the thought was pushed aside as she had to focus more on Skye's safety as she followed her outside to the runways.

"What the hell is she doing?" Peter said, looking out the window in the room he and Castle were waiting in. "Damn it, she's going after him," he said when Castle looked out as well.

Following Peter out of the room, Castle could see Beckett was running after Skye, and they were both going after a man who was holding some papers in his hand, straight for a runway. "There's a plane coming in!" he yelled as he looked in the distance and saw the shape in the sky, not sure if the investigator in front of him could hear.

Dodging a bag cart, Skye found herself unable to catch up to Morrison, and she realized they were on the tarmac. "Stop, stop!" she yelled once and then shrieked the second time as she saw the plane coming in. She skidded to a stop when she realized they were not going to be able to beat the plane to the other side of the tarmac where Morrison was reaching, the aircraft touching down on its rear landing gears as she turned around. She grabbed Beckett and threw her down on the ground as the massive A380 roared next to them, covering her ears.

Beckett looked up over her shoulder when the plane was far enough past them, and she saw the body of the maintenance worker first. She got up as Skye looked over, and ran to the body, about to reach down to check for a pulse when she saw the back of his head was partially caved in and bloody, and realized that his eyes were wide open and glassy.

"He's…" Skye said, coming up behind her. She saw Morrison's wound, and turned around as Peter and Castle reached them. She pushed past them as she could hear Beckett calling to the nearest worker, "Call 911, he's dead."

* * *

Walking over to the rear tires of the Air France A380 almost an hour later, Castle and Beckett watched Skye to try and see how she was doing. After the incident she'd walked to the plane that had parked on the tarmac, and she had spent most of the time watching the police and coroner walking around her as if she was in a daze.

"I think I'll let you take care of this," Castle said as they neared the woman.

"Probably better I do," Beckett said. "Skye," she called.

"You know, I don't know if I can blame myself for this or not really, but I am," the investigator said, looking up at her. "So if you're going to try and tell me I'm not at fault even a little bit I'd save my breath."

"Actually, they said he was trying to get to that plane over there," Castle said, pointing at a private jet. "He knew how to fly they said."

"Thank you for letting me take care of it," Beckett said, shaking her head at him. "Look Skye, I honestly don't think there was anything else you could have done."

"Except not chase after him?" Skye said.

"Then wouldn't he have still run?" Castle asked. "Sorry," he said when Beckett looked at him.

"He's right, he still would have run, and he still would have been… killed," she then said carefully. "You did your job, and I think your case is pretty much solved. They arrested Philip Olsen while you were out here."

Sighing deeply Skye then said, "Yeah, he was convinced by Morrison I think, that they could falsify the documents and divide the money between them. But everything was Morrison's plan."

"That's basically what Olsen's saying," Peter said, walking up to them then. "And I'm inclined to believe him, but they're taking him in to Headquarters to get an official statement."

"Alright, so is my work done here?" Skye asked.

"Not yet," Peter said. "Helen called. She wants you."

Groaning heavily at that, Skye stood up and said, "The press conference?"

"You're the best, as much as you don't like it the media prefers to talk with you," Peter said. "But I'll be fielding the questions."

"When is it going to be?" Skye asked.

"Tomorrow," Peter said. He then looked at Beckett and said apologetically, "I'm afraid you'll need to stay another day."

Nodding, though she was hoping to return home, Beckett then said, "Will we be allowed at the press conference?"

"Of course, the Chairman knows about your case, and your protection detail. All of that," Peter said. "It won't be long, and once it's over you can head back to NYC, I've got it from here on in Skye. I'll just need you in case there's a trial for Olsen."

"Thank you," Skye said. "So who's up here?" she asked, pointing up to the plane. "Simon?"

"It's him, I don't know how he's doing though," Peter said. "Going to talk with him?"

"If that's alright," Skye said though she was looking at Beckett. When she nodded, the investigator walked over to them and when Peter patted her on the shoulder she looked at him saying, "I'll be alright. How are the passengers?"

"Last I heard the passenger in critical condition has been moved to serious, so she's getting better," Peter said, knowing she meant the Pacific Air passengers.

Skye gave him a nod and then walked over to Castle and Beckett, the latter who handed her her jacket. "Thanks, and congratulations," she said.

"For what?" Beckett asked in surprise.

"For becoming an investigator faster than I did," Skye said as she walked past them, throwing her jacket around her and sliding her arms into the sleeves.

"Pretty sure that was a joke," Castle commented as they followed her. "She should be okay."

"Mostly likely," Beckett said simply. "And I'm glad my tenure with the NTSB was brief."

"Me too, wouldn't be able to follow you which I would not be able to stand," Castle said, not surprised as her eyes rolled slightly in response.

Going up the stairs set up to the lower level of the double decker plane, Skye walked through the cabin easily as the passengers had already departed. She went up the stairs to the second level, pausing to make sure Castle and Beckett followed before she continued up. Seeing the flight attendants near the cockpit she called to them, " _Simon est ici_?"

"That's four languages now, five with English, she knows," Castle whispered to Beckett as they walked down the aisle.

"I'm going to talk to the pilot really quickly," Skye said to them once they had reached her. "And then we can go back to the hotel… or wherever you might need to go."

Watching as the investigator entered the cockpit, Beckett saw her put her hand on the man's shoulder, speaking rapidly to him in French that surpassed her knowledge of the language from high school. She turned to Castle to see what he was doing, and saw that he was walking back down the aisle. "Castle," she hissed slightly to him.

Motioning down the aisle, he continued and saw that there was a bar a little further back down in the cabin. He stood at the counter and then turned around leaning against it before he saw Beckett walking to him.

"So are you seeing the images of passengers past or are you practicing pick up lines in your mind?" she asked him.

"Um, neither, just checking this out," Castle said quickly. "Skye?"

"I can still see her," Beckett said, glancing back. "We- excuse me," she said as her phone rang.

Wondering if it was Ryan and Esposito, Castle looked ahead to the cockpit, still seeing the letters on Skye's jacket before he looked back to his fiancée and saw she was hanging up. "Do they have anything?" he asked.

"That was the local police, they need to talk to us about what happened," Beckett said. "I thought they had our statements."

"I'm ready," Skye said, standing in the doorway to the section they were in. "And they probably want to talk to you about the papers there are, since you saw them. Sounds like they're building up a case against Olsen."

"Will they confiscate my phone?" Castle asked.

"No," Skye said with a slight laugh as they went to the cabin door.

"How's he doing?" Beckett said as she glanced at the cockpit, seeing the pilot was walking towards them.

"He's alright, it was a shock since he didn't even see Morrison, but I managed to convince him it was Morrison's fault since he knew the airport," Skye said.

"Which pretty much applies to you thinking you had any fault in his death," Castle said.

Pausing on the stairs, Skye nodded and said, "That's true, and thank you for reminding me of the fact."

"Glad to help in some way," Castle said simply.

Watching as Skye hurried down the rest of the steps, Beckett followed as she headed towards the side of the runway, calling to the police.

"I'm going to find Peter," Skye told her. "While you talk with the police, I should be alright."

"Stick close to him," Beckett said before she left her. She turned to the officer in front of her as he asked her about the papers that they had gotten inside the Pacific Air offices, joining Castle in their description of the false papers and the actual, blank forms that had been given to them by the secretary.

* * *

"Let's hope that's it," Castle said as Beckett was hanging up her phone. "Anything?"

"Not really," Beckett sighed. "I'm getting a little uneasy, no new body, no contact from him, nothing suspicious… here…"

"Where is she?" Castle asked, looking around with her then, not able to find the investigator in the few officers and ground crew that were around the A380.

"Where-" Beckett said, rushing over to Peter as he walked to them.

"She's under guard," the man said quickly. "And she's over there," he told them, pointing towards a hangar for British Airways. "Detective," he said when Beckett and Castle started to walk over towards it. "She's not going to want to talk much."

"Is she going on a 747?" Castle asked.

"A 300, so… I would advise you to just hang back and not push her to talk," Peter said.

With a short nod, Beckett headed over to the hangar and when an employee stopped them inside she told him she was looking for Skye.

"Oh sure, she went inside this one," the man said, motioning with his thumb to the 747 with some scaffolding around it. "Police officer's standing up there at the door."

"Thank you," Beckett said. She was about to start walking when she felt her phone shaking in her pocket, and she hurriedly pulled it out as she headed for the flight of stairs to the door. "It's from Espo," she said, seeing it was a text. "They have a sketch," she said, showing him the screen.

"Two of them," Castle said, seeing the first sketch with a scar on the chin, and the second without. "Something familiar about him."

"You've seen him before?" Beckett asked in surprise.

"I feel like I have," Castle said. "I think it's the eyes."

Looking at her phone, Beckett said, "I see what you mean, though that might mean they're just a shape that you see often in people. Come on, I need to get her out of here. It's way too open and I can't secure her safety, especially if I'm not aware of where she is on that plane." She headed up the stairs; Castle following; and when they reached the officer she showed her badge saying, "Detective Beckett from the NYPD, is Investigator McDouglas inside?"

"She is, had me wait out here, said she wanted to be alone," the officer said.

Glancing down where the other door was and seeing there were no stairs or scaffolding that could lead to it; Beckett nodded and told the officer, "I can take over here, thank you for your time." When the man had nodded and went past Castle down the stairs, she went inside, and glanced down the cabin as she walked to the stairs to the second level.

Castle held back a question of how Beckett was so sure Skye was up there when he remembered the episode they'd watched the night before about the plane crash she'd been in. It had said the two survivors were in the upper level, which had broken off and had managed to avoid the serious fire that had consumed the rest of the plane. "You don't think she's reliving it do you," he whispered.

"Most likely," Beckett said. At the top of the stairs she turned to Castle and made him stop telling him, "I want to talk to her on my own. You can come with me, just, not a word."

"I wasn't planning on intruding this time," he told her seriously. "Better you talk to her than me."

Squeezing his arm briefly in gratitude, Beckett walked towards the front of the first class section, a little surprised to see the seating was very outdated. She nearly jumped when she heard a voice; seeming to come out of nowhere; saying, "They're getting ready to update this one." She walked to the very first row of seats and on the left saw Skye was sitting next to the window her elbows on her thighs and her head in her hands. Hearing the investigator's tone of voice she motioned to Castle to get him to stop where he was; which he quickly did; and she moved to sit on the aisle seat in the same row.

"I'm sorry about leaving without telling you where I was going," Skye said, looking at the wall in front of them. "But Peter must have." When she received no answer from either of them she glanced at Beckett from the corner of her eye and sighed out deeply. "It has nothing to do with either case, mine or yours."

"It might," Beckett said simply, not sure how Skye would react since she was able to easily notice the investigator's reddened eyes.

"I still dream about that night," Skye began, glancing at Castle who gave her a slight smile. "But it's less now since I got married and we adopted the girls. But, it's always the same, exactly how it happened. We're sitting here, though my father was here, in this seat next to me, trying to get me to sleep but failing to. I was always excited to get to go on a flight and never could settle down. We had been talking with the pilot, a good friend of my father's, and once he went back to the flight deck we heard him announcing we had a mechanical problem and he was going to land in Kansas City.

"And I was fine with that, by then my father was already telling me about how planes could be like cars sometimes, a quick hiccup but once you got down on the ground, you were fine. But this time we came in too steep. So steep my father pushed me down into the crash position and the instant the tail hit first, I could tell it was not going to be a normal landing," Skye said, looking blankly ahead of them, as if she was seeing every moment of the crash again.

Looking at Castle from the corner of her eye, Beckett was quiet, knowing there was more to the story, and she was a little horrified that Skye remembered so much of the crash. But when the investigator was quiet she said carefully, "You don't need to keep going."

"No, I've started, I may as well end because this culminates into why I'm here now, wearing this jacket," Skye said, touching the yellow letters on it. "When she touched down, there was a sharp jolt, very sharp, and my father was yelling at me to keep my head down. When we didn't start slowing down he started to yell to the flight crew to put the speed brakes, and that was the last time I heard my father's voice as we reached the end of the runway. It's there that everything's pretty much a blur; I likely blacked out when the front section of the plane broke apart at the small cliff there was at the time. When it finally stopped and I came to, there was a fire, the live wires had set off the dead grass and in the light that provided I realized I couldn't breathe.

"It took me a minute to get myself situated, but once I did, I started to scream, and that's when Frank did the same," Skye continued with. "That's when I knew some people were alive and I started to try and move from under my father, his body half on top of me, which I managed just barely. And looking at him, I knew he was dead; there was too much blood for him to have survived the crash." She took a shuddering breath as a few tears snaked down her cheeks and she tried to continue but had to fight back a sob. "Sorry," she said, wiping away the tears hurriedly.

Murmuring that it was alright, Beckett stood up as Skye did, but was a little surprised when the woman put her hand on the wall in front of the row of seats.

"This was partially how I survived," Skye then said. "The other half… my father's body managed to cover mine. No one knows to this day if he did that deliberately or if it was a coincidence. But that's how I managed to get through it with almost no injuries."

"You have survivor's guilt," Beckett said in realization.

"Yeah, that's… something Mary has been working me through," Skye said. "Sometimes, usually around May when the crash happened, I feel so guilt ridden that I almost can't breathe, can't do anything but lock myself in my room and try to forget that moment when I knew I was alive."

When Skye fell silent, Beckett started to speak but hesitated for a moment before she finally said, "What exactly happened on the landing. I know it's pilot error, but there was never really a detailed explanation."

"You watched the ACI episode about the crash," Skye said, rubbing her thumb along the bottom of her father's wings. When Beckett nodded, Castle doing the same, she said, "I investigated it, as I told you, and I found out that… the pilot was intoxicated."

"Your father didn't see that?" Castle said, tensing when he remembered he'd promised not to talk.

"No, he wasn't slurring his words, or staggering back to the flight deck, but it was enough to impair his judgment and it made him forget to apply the speed breaks," Skye said simply.

"How were you able to find that out? You didn't investigate until you'd joined the NTSB, years later," Beckett said.

"I talked to some pilots at JFK who'd had a drink at the bar with him before the flight. He'd ordered a whiskey, straight up, and apparently before that group had joined him, he'd had another drink with his wife, a martini," Skye said softly, sitting back down. "He wasn't a lightweight… but it was enough. But I knew him, I knew he would never intentionally try to get himself drunk and risk a flight. It's just at this time he was going through some marital problems and he was arguing with his wife before he had the whiskey. So I tried, as best I could to downplay his blood alcohol level but there was only so much I could do in my final report."

"And how widely known was the report?" Beckett asked.

"It's online, so… anyone could have seen it," Skye said, shrugging slightly. She looked at Beckett and said, "You think the killer could be related to the flight crew?"

"The pilot?" Castle said quickly. "He didn't have any kids?"

"Yes," Skye said. "He had a son, but he died about seven years ago, he has a daughter, but I contacted her before the report went public and explained what I found and that if I'd had much choice, I wouldn't have put that information into it."

"What was her reaction?" Beckett asked, hearing her phone vibrating in her pocket.

"You better check that," Skye said.

With Castle and Skye watching her, Beckett checked the text message and said, "It's from Ryan, Cineflix got back to them, and said after that episode aired they got a typewritten letter that was… less than positive."

"That's probably him," Castle said.

Covering her face with her hands, Skye shook her head saying, "Is there anything from that that can ID the killer?"

"I just asked him," Beckett said. She looked at the message back and said, "They're looking into it now up in Montreal. But that letter was handled by employees, so it's more likely we're going to get fingerprints from them."

Nodding, Skye said, "I'll make arrangements for us to fly back to NYC tomorrow as soon as the press conference is over."

"I would appreciate that," Beckett said. "Since it looks like he's not bothering to leave the city."

Standing up and walking out to the aisle, Skye said, "You might want to start looking into the families of the flight crew. It could be one of them." She saw Beckett glance at Castle and said, "You already started."

"I notified Ryan and Esposito this morning after he and I discussed the episode and they started looking into family and friends," Beckett said, indicating Castle.

"Okay, so, you should hopefully find him, and soon," Skye said simply. "If he wants revenge on me for my investigation, I need you to find him. And I will do whatever I can to help," she said, her voice taking on an almost desperate tone.

"I'll appreciate that too," Beckett said before she led the way back to the stairs and down out of the airplane to go back into the sharp cold of the waning afternoon.


	11. We Think So Little Of

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song The Answer's at the End by George Harrison, from his album Extra Texture (Read All About It).

"So we have a list now of possible suspects," Castle was saying. "But I'm wondering do we really want to cut out the women?"

"I know, but it's pretty much a certain thing," Beckett said, going through a few papers they had spread out over the table in their room at the hotel.

"They could have easily been wearing heels," Castle said.

"We'll see how the list goes," Beckett said simply. "But I would like to focus on family members, because they're the most likely to have any issues with Skye."

"Okay, so who are we starting with?" Castle asked. "The pilot's family I'm guessing by that look you're giving me."

"Yes, and Ryan's supposed to send me the paperwork on the son's death," Beckett said absently as she was looking at her computer. "Okay, here it is." She then looked confused and clicked a few times on the screen before she said, "No autopsy report, but there's another paper from a coroner… He was in Arizona, camping, and got separated from his party. There was a trail of blood they found. It looks like a wild animal attacked him."

"Prints?" Castle asked.

"In the dirt and blood," Beckett said. "So that brings us to Lilia Brooks, the pilot's daughter. She's thirty-six and was eight when her father died."

"But Skye did say she talked to her before the episode aired," Castle reminded her.

"That doesn't mean she didn't receive some kind of backlash after that, that might have turned her into an outcast, gotten her looked down on," Beckett said.

"You know, if she was a pilot that might explain why she would kill so many people to get to Skye," Castle said. "Her father's reputation pretty much destroyed by Skye's investigation, and her career in trouble…" He trailed off when he saw the expression on Beckett's face and said, "Not a pilot."

"Not even able to fly," Beckett said. "Sorry, but it would have worked perfectly. No, she's a teacher, ninth grade history in Albany. So while she does live in New York, she's actually at this moment in California for a wedding, and she's too short. And I mean short," she quickly said when Castle started to speak. "So much so that she'd have to wear about seven inch heels to get to the height the man- killer- was in that footage."

"Could be wearing KISS boots," Castle said. "What about other family members?"

"No one else except his wife; the pilot's wife; live in New York," Beckett said. "However, his nephew lives in Virginia, so it's possible it could be him. I set Esposito to look into him as soon as I found that out. As for other family, they're all in England, but Espo's also going to look into them to see if they've come here in the past few days."

"Co-pilot?" Castle asked. "Verne Trace. Although, Skye didn't seem too sure about us looking at the whole flight crew."

"I know, but if she's never seen the episode she's not going to be aware they pretty much blamed all three of them," Beckett reminded him.

"Yeah, the pilot for being intoxicated, and the co-pilot and engineer not taking over when they noticed," Castle said. "Though it sounds like there wasn't enough time to do so."

"It makes it more sensational, more dramatic," Beckett said. "And gives the families of the other two men motive to want to kill her. Okay, so Verne Trace had no kids, so that left his family. He had a sister, she's single, living in Essex, England and that was the only other family member we could find still living."

"Really," Castle said in surprise. "No one changing their name?"

"No, they looked twice to make sure they hadn't made a mistake, and Ryan talked to the sister himself," Beckett replied. "She said their parents had been only children. Their only relatives were either deceased or too old to fly to the city. And that brings us to Patricia Cornell."

Castle was a little startled when Beckett got up after saying that, and he hurried to follow her to the doors between the two rooms which she knocked on.

"Come on in Beckett," Skye said, her voice sounding strange.

Walking inside, Beckett saw that the investigator was rubbing her face with her hands and said, "Is the paperwork that bad?"

"That and I have to put in a report," Skye said, putting her glasses back on. "Luckily I don't have to write the biggest part of it. What can I help you with?"

"I'm wondering if you're aware of Patricia Cornell," Beckett said.

"Really? You know already that I do," Skye said, sounding a little irritable. Before she could continue there was a knock on the door, and she started to stand up to answer it.

"I need to check and see who that is," Beckett said, stopping her.

"It's only Peter," Skye almost snapped and just managed to calm down in time as she watched Beckett go to the door. She exhaled heavily in annoyance and sensed that Castle was next to her, looking at him with her eyes narrowed.

"She's only doing her job," he said carefully, recognizing that the investigator was about to snap.

"Investigator King," Beckett said, opening the door for the man.

"Nothing still?" Peter asked Skye.

"Whoever the killer is isn't making it easy for them," Skye replied. "Come on in, I just finished up with the last of the paperwork."

"Okay so Chairman Duke wants you there at ten tomorrow," Peter said, going over to the table in the room and picking up the file that Skye handed to him. "There'll be an animation-"

"For engine failure?" Skye asked incredulously.

Beckett glanced at the IIC, wondering how he would handle his co-worker's obvious anger, since she hadn't been oblivious to when it had been directed at herself.

"It's not May Skye," Peter began.

"So they'll be showing the computer readout and the decent level and how we know it was both engines and not just the left one," Skye said, trying to avoid the subject.

"As you say," Peter said. "Your section of the report?"

"Printing now, it should be down at the lobby, you only need ask," Skye said.

"Detective-" Peter began to say.

"She'll be there," Beckett said before he could finish his question.

"Alright, you're off the hook from the case until tomorrow," Peter said. "Relax," he told Skye, seriously. "And try to forget alright? Better yet, call Mary, talk to her and try and talk to your kids too."

"Thank you Peter," Skye said simply, holding back any emotion in her voice. She watched as he left and she sat down behind her computer as she looked up at Beckett. "I know Patricia, why?"

"We've looked at everyone else related to the flight crew, she's the one that's standing out," Beckett replied.

"In what way?" Skye asked suspiciously.

"She's from New York, and apparently she was heartbroken after the episode on the crash aired," Beckett said.

Glancing at her when she said that, Castle looked quickly to the investigator, wondering what her reaction was going to be exactly and as she stood up, he nearly took a step away, knowing that it wasn't going to be good.

"As was I, even though I didn't see it," Skye said. "Does that make me the killer?"

"You're not a suspect," Beckett said, keeping her calm as she knew she would need to.

"And neither should she be," Skye said. "I've been in contact with her since I was ten and she was nine, her mother reached out to my dad and contacted him, saying we should write to each other. We've kept on writing, even to this day."

"That doesn't mean anything exactly," Beckett said simply. "She could still want to kill you."

"Look, the person in that picture you showed me was tall," Skye said, her tone switching to sounding a little frantic. "Patricia is about five-five."

"She could be wearing heels," Castle said.

"It's not her," Skye said forcefully. "She's a friend of mine, she was at my wedding and she sent a gift for my daughters after Mary and I adopted them. If anything, she'd likely be another victim, not the killer."

"Do you remember," Beckett said as firmly as she could, starting to get a little irritated by Skye's protests though she knew the reason why she was doing that. "You understood why I was investigating your wife until I cleared her. I need to look into Patricia Cornell the same way I looked into your wife."

"And she'll have an alibi," Skye said simply. "I'd like to talk to my wife now, so excuse me," she said, picking up her phone and walking into the bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

"She's-" Castle started to say hesitantly as he looked over at Beckett.

"It's stemming from Morrison and her telling us about the crash," she sighed, sitting down at the table. "I told her she didn't need to tell us."

"I thought it was necessary," Skye said. She smiled weakly when Castle and Beckett looked at her in the doorway in surprise and she said, "You're right, I can't see her as a friend, but a possible suspect. It never really occurred to me to look at her as anything but a friend. We were pretty close, because we'd lost our fathers, but I always got the feeling that she felt sorry for me. And you're right as well about the episode, if it makes it seem like the co-pilot and her father should have been able to keep the plane from crashing, then it might have pushed her. But I'm finding it hard to believe. And I am sorry for being a bit bitchy, but you're right, Morrison and having to relive the crash have not made me happy."

"I understand why," Beckett said. "And you need to be prepared if it turns out that Patricia is the killer."

"I know," Skye said simply. "Have you talked to her yet?"

"Ryan and Esposito are trying to get a hold of her," Beckett said. "Or they were about two hours ago," she said, frowning as she looked at her watch. "They- that'll be them," she started to say before she abruptly stopped when her phone started to ring. "Beckett," she said after answering it, seeing it was Ryan.

"We just went to Cornell's apartment," the detective said on the other end. "And it's empty, according to her landlady, she and her husband left this morning, early, for a trip."

"Was it planned?" Castle asked.

"As far as she knew no," Ryan said. "Do you want us to conduct a search warrant? The landlady says there's an extra bedroom since they have no kids."

"Try and get a hold of them first," Beckett said. "I'll look into the husband from here, and if I find something, we'll need a warrant." She hung up and then went back to hers and Castle's room, sitting at the table.

"Do you know her husband that well?" Castle asked.

"He's a pilot, like Patricia is, but that's about all I know," Skye said. "Though I met him at their wedding in September last year. They were married in Hawaii so Mary and I went. He seemed like a nice guy."

"She's a pilot?" Beckett asked, looking up from her laptop.

"A co-pilot, that's how they met," Skye said. "He's… Vinnie's six feet tall."

"Then it could be him," Castle said. "I see him more as working alone if that were the case," he told Beckett as he sat in the chair next to her. "That episode aired, and he saw how much it hurt his…"

"They met three years ago, long after the episode aired," Skye said as he looked at her questioningly.

"But he could still be trying to get revenge on… because of what was said," Castle said, trying to stop himself before he reminded Skye.

"Revenge on me, yes, you do realize if that had been her plan," the investigator began. "She could have done so long before. Why now?"

"There could have been a trigger," Beckett said. "You said she's a pilot, has she been in any incidents or accidents lately?"

"A few months before she and her husband got married the engine on her plane had a flame out on the runway, but it wasn't serious and no one was injured," Skye said. She rubbed her forehead and said, "She's got a lot to live for though, I don't see her just throwing away everything."

"There could be something that made her decide you've ruined her father's name, her reputation as a pilot," Castle suggested.

"How is she seen by her colleagues?" Beckett asked.

"I'm not sure," Skye said honestly. "I've never heard anything about her as a pilot really; she flies for American, so you could call them and ask."

"I'll need to start," Beckett said. "If you want to wait, you don't need to stay here."

"I'd prefer to," Skye said firmly. "To see if it's her or not."

"Then by all means," Beckett said simply before she returned to her computer and went to the American Airlines site to find out how to contact their suspect's supervisor.

* * *

"So I talked with the pilot she usually flies with from La Guardia to Heathrow," Castle was saying an hour later. "She's been a little distracted lately; he had no idea why though. But he flew with her this morning to London and he'll be coming back on the return trip with another co-pilot."

"It's that trip then," Beckett said, looking up at him. "I got a hold of their hotel, and they rang up the room but they're not there." She looked at her watch and counted ahead saying, "It's about one or two there."

"They might be out," Castle said. "If they're on vacation then they might want to spend some time together."

"What are you thinking," Beckett said as his statement was a little too off point for him.

"No, just, she seemed distracted, and I asked the pilot if it was marital troubles, something with the family. He said no and I asked him if the whole thing with her father had her looked down on by other pilots," Castle said distractedly. "But he insisted that no one thought she was a bad flyer because of that, and no one really believes that her father or the co-pilot of the flight had anything to do with the crash."

"They don't?" Beckett and Skye asked in surprise.

"Yeah," Castle said, looking a little startled at that. "They know that it was Captain Brooks' fault, but from what this pilot told me-"

"Who was it?" Skye interrupted.

"Adam Young," Castle said.

"I know him, he's a bit older, but I know him from an incident when I was still an intern, he's a good man and pilot," Skye said. "Sorry, keep going."

"Well he said his fellow pilots at the time knew what was going on with him and his wife, Captain Brooks I mean," Castle said. "Though they don't condone it, they can understand why he drank."

"So it was an unfortunate event," Beckett said. "Which doesn't make sense," she said after Castle had nodded at that. "The killer's motive is a personal one, but we've looked at every possible suspect. And besides Agent Luis, there's no one, except maybe Cornell." Her phone rang, and she answered it, seeing it was Esposito, "Hey Espo I've got you on speaker, I just tried to get a hold of Cornell but she's out in the city or asleep."

"I just got a hold of her mother," Esposito said. "Asked her if her daughter was acting strange lately. She told me she was, but the reason wasn't what I was expecting. She's pregnant."

Castle saw Skye's face light up for a moment before Beckett spoke asking, "And did you get any kind of alibi for her the time window for the murders?"

"Yeah, that whole time she was packing with her mother at her apartment getting ready to take what was apparently her last flight, she's retiring," Esposito replied. "So she's not our killer."

"What about her husband?" Castle said.

"He was in LA at the time, flew back here around the time the second victim was killed, and we got both their cell phone records, the time the third vic was left at the park they were around their apartment," Esposito said. "So where do we go from this?"

"That's a great question," Beckett said, sighing deeply. "But I think we should stick with the Cornells. Can you try to take a look at the rest of the family, even the wife of the engineer. And if you can, mention Skye and see what their reactions are," she said, looking at the investigator who looked down at the paper in front of her. "If the list is too long, split it in half and take those you think might be most likely to be the killer and contact them first. The other half save for tomorrow."

"Got it," Esposito said. "We also got information on the post office that delivered mail for the first vic."

"Finally, what did they say?" Beckett asked.

"There was a call in to check and make sure if the hold was placed on the vic's mail during Thanksgiving. Said he was the vic's husband and was checking for his wife," Esposito said. "Male, with a slight accent, the way the postal employee I talked to described it was British."

"That would work," Beckett said, remembering the voice that had told her Skye was gone. "Did it sound modulated to them?"

"No, but there was a lot of static, guy said he was shouting at the man at the other end, not sure if he would be able to hear," Esposito said. "We checked the post office's telephone records, and got a hit on a number the day of the call, it was the only one not made locally."

"Where was it coming from? There?" Castle asked.

"Yonkers actually. But when he looked closer at the location, Ryan found a public library," Esposito said. "Talked to the employees, but no one remembers anyone with a British accent."

"An affectation," Skye said under her breath, looking down at her paper and picking up one of the colored pencils in the box next to her hand.

"Alright, then let's focus on the family of the flight crew still, we'll try and get in touch with Cornell or her husband here," Beckett said simply. After she'd said goodbye to Esposito she said to Skye, "You think he was faking an American accent."

"Why not?" Skye said, her accent suddenly gone. "But I think he more than likely knew you'd search that call and he wanted to cover his tracks by blending in. Which put Vinnie out since he's not British but Italian and his British accent is not the best; I've heard him do so before." She started to speak, but then hesitated before she said, "I wonder if you would mind me calling Patricia, or attempting to."

"That would be helpful," Beckett said, nodding down to her phone. "And it would help if-"

"I put it on speaker, I gathered," Skye said simply. She dialed a number and started to set the phone down in front of her when Castle tugged the picture that was there out of the way. She raised an eyebrow at him questioningly but shook her head to his mouthing the word sorry before there was a click of the phone being picked up on the other end. "Tricia?" she asked.

"Skye! Oh I'm so glad to hear from you, I heard the news in the states, is it true? Livia's dead?" the woman said anxiously, her voice containing a slight accent.

"It is," Skye said, looking up at Beckett as if to ask permission if it was alright to tell the woman that. "But what about you? I tried to get a hold of you earlier today and your phone was off."

"I just took my last flight," Patricia said on the other end. "I've got some great news, Vinnie and I are expecting."

"You're kidding? That's absolutely fantastic Tricia," Skye said.

Glancing at Beckett, Castle widened his eyes slightly as if to say the investigator had acted out her surprise really well; getting a nod in return.

"How far along are you? And where are you?" Skye then asked as she could hear music in the background.

"I'm about two months, and we're in London," Patricia said. "We're going to live here in Europe now, summer in Ireland, and winter in the south of Italy at his family's villa in Palermo. We're wondering if you and Mary would like to be the unofficial godmothers to our baby once it's born."

"We would absolutely love to," Skye said. "And you're not coming back to the States at all?"

"No, we're ready to settle down here," Patricia said. A man's voice came on over the background and she said, "I'll have to talk to you better another day Skye, we're heading back to our hotel. _Ciao_!"

" _Ciao_ Tricia, give my love to Vinnie and the family," Skye said before she hung up the phone. "They're good friends," she said, looking at the blank screen. "Though we haven't talked on the phone in months. She's not your killer," she finished, looking at Beckett.

"I'm sure of that now," she replied. "But I'm thinking it might be someone in her family. Out of the three in the flight crew that night, her father had the least to do with what happened. Are any other family members in the industry?"

"I don't know," Skye said. "I only know her," she said absently. "And her husband. I've got a message here," she said suddenly.

"From who?" Castle asked.

"I don't recognize the number," Skye said simply before she held out the phone to Beckett.

Taking it, she pressed the screen to retrieve the message and they all listened as there was a loud burst of static, and then a voice, "…McDouglas… next… coming… finish… to… here…"

Looking down at the phone, Beckett looked up at Skye and said, "I'm going to need this."

"Yeah, but, I think I'll call my wife now, excuse me," the investigator said, looking a little shaken as she stood up.

"Was that an authentic accent?" Castle asked.

"It was," Skye said before she left the room.

"Yes, this is Detective Kate Beckett with the NYPD, I need to speak to Agent Salton," Beckett said as she looked up at Castle. "Yes, Agent, Investigator McDouglas just received a message on her cell phone, and I need to transfer it to you. The number is 928-555-8312. I'll hold." She covered her phone and looking at Castle said, "Her friend told us to contact this Agent in the future, she needs to go to Atlanta for her case she's involved in right now."

"He's here," Castle said.

"I know, he- yes, I'm still here," Beckett said, interrupted when the agent on the other end spoke to her again. She wrote down a few things on a piece of paper and said, "Right, no, I'll allow the local police to take point. Alright, thank you Agent. Bye. They traced the number that just called her, and took the message from her phone as well putting a tracker on it in case," directing the last to him. "And I have an app now…" she began and trailed off as she looked down at the screen of her phone.

"He's not in LA is he?" Skye said, walking back inside the room.

"No, is your family alright?" Beckett asked.

"They're fine, so you'll be able to track me?" Skye asked, sitting back down on her chair.

"I will, that's only for a worst case scenario, and it'll be deactivated as soon as we have the killer in custody," Beckett said.

"Did you tell your wife what just happened?" Castle asked, seeing the woman looked exhausted.

"No, better that I don't because she'll fly out here, and I don't need to tempt the bastard with another victim," Skye said. "If there has to be another, it will be me."

"Then I'll have really failed," Beckett said. "But we'll find him; they're searching the area where the burner phone was traced to."

"I bet you he'll have discarded the phone," Skye said simply. "He knows it's going to be risky with you both here, he's been smart so far, but now he's closer to apparently finishing things off with me, he'll be incredibly cautious so he can do so."

"Even if that's the case," Castle said. "There's the possibility of past calls leading us to maybe a home or hotel."

"We'll need to see," Beckett said before Skye could reply to that. "And wait, they're going to search for the phone as we speak. How's the shoulder?"

"Just fine, it was a weak punch, more to startle than hurt," the investigator said with a shrug. She sat back in her chair and saw that Castle was looking at the picture he'd taken from in front of her and asked, "What do you think?"

"It's impressive, you're pretty good," he said, handing the drawing of an Aer Lingus 747 to Beckett. "Do you do that all the time? Draw even when you haven't been hired to do so?"

"Pretty much, it relaxes me," Skye said with a sigh. "I hate press conferences."

"Speaking of that," Beckett said, handing the drawing back to her. "Where exactly is it going to take place?"

"I don't know," Skye said. "Is it alright to use my phone?" When Beckett nodded she hurriedly dialed a number and set the phone on speaker. "Peter, where are we going to be tomorrow?" she asked once the man had answered.

"Talked to the Chairman, Pac Air wants it inside their hangar," Peter said. "And I know, one of their employees was just killed, but they would like to show they're-"

"Cooperating with us," Skye said. "Yeah, I know how they work. Alright, inside the hangar you said?"

"Inside, I talked with the Chairman and we're in agreement we need an enclosed space for you at the moment, so there you have it," Peter said.

"There will be police there Investigator," Beckett said then. "I need security for her."

"That's understood, and Metro's been contacted, they're aware of you and you should be getting a call soon," Peter said.

"Alright, that's all I needed to know, say hello to Jin for me," Skye said.

"Got it, see you at Pac Air," Peter said before he hung up.

Watching as Beckett talked to the DC police; Castle heard the chair next to him creaking and looked over to see Skye going to the window. When Beckett grabbed the investigator's arm he said quietly, "Better stay away from the windows."

"Not the first time I've stood there since we got here," Skye said, grumbling slightly in annoyance. But she sat down at the table again and took out a fresh sheet of paper, starting to mark it with a black pencil before asking Castle, "Her daughter," nodding to Beckett. "What's her favorite color?"

"Blue, why?" Castle asked. Before Skye could answer though, he heard Beckett stop talking and he turned to her to see what the phone call had been about. "Security at the airport?"

"That was, we're all set," Beckett replied, glancing at Skye as she'd listened to their conversation with half an ear. "Everyone's going to be checked in the media, for security reasons since we'll be by a 747, though really it's for you. They don't want to let out your life has been threatened."

"Good to hear," Skye said absently. She then looked up and saw the expressions on Castle and Beckett's faces and hurriedly said, "I mean that I'll be safe of course. Media won't like the extra security though."

"They'll get the press conference," Castle said. "And their sound bites so it'll still work out."

Beckett's phone rang again, and when she saw the number she looked a little confused, saying, "I guess they found something," showing Castle the screen quickly. "Ryan? Wait, let me put you on speaker, she needs to hear this."

Her head shooting up at that, Skye clutched at the colored pencil in her hand and leaned over the table a little more as the detective spoke.

"…just heard from LAX, they had to look through a lot of paperwork during the years your mom was part of security there," Ryan said. "But it looks like there wasn't anything major that she had to deal with, nothing that warranted anything other than a summary and a few pages of paperwork. Same at Boeing, she was pretty well liked and nothing really in her paperwork that was still there in her file. So that's crossed off the list. And Espo just got hold of the Montreal PD and they're finished looking at that threatening letter. They were able to establish it was sent from Salt Lake City, Utah, and that's about all they could get since it was type written and sealed with water, no DNA or fingerprints."

"Anything with the Cornell family?" Beckett asked not surprised there wasn't too much from the letter.

"There was a nephew of the flight engineer," Ryan said. "I have a picture of him I'm sending to you now. Apparently he was living in Denver, Colorado around the time the letter was sent. He moved after that to here and he's in the height range of that picture from the security footage."

"Where is he now and is he British?" Beckett asked.

"He's in Yonkers, and we're about to go talk with him, we'll let you know if he's British," Ryan said.

"It's not him," Castle said.

"What?" Ryan asked.

"He's not the killer, Skye just got a call from the killer, and he's here in DC," Castle answered. "So unless we're dealing with more than one, it isn't him."

"Talk to him still," Beckett said. "And see if there's anyone in the family who might have a grudge against Skye."

"On it," Ryan said. "We'll call when we have anything."

Hanging up the phone, Beckett said, "Almost."

"That would have been perfect," Castle said. "He could have sta…"

"Stalked me, yes, I know I'm in the room, but again, there's not a need to bloody tiptoe around me as if I were a child," Skye said without rancor, standing up. "I'll duck into my room for something, feel free to speculate as much as you like."

"He could have, but that long ago you would think he'd have taken a chance and planned something out sooner," Beckett said as Skye went to the doors. "The problem I have is why now exactly."

"Skye," Castle called out. "This flight you're taking on the British Airways plane you designed, is there anything more special about it than that?"

"Hold on," Skye said, walking back inside with a pencil sharpener. "They're actually going to have me sit in the cockpit, and they'll be allowing me to fly. Which I'm aware is highly illegal these days, but if it were an emergency then I'd have no problem."

"I think that may be it," Castle said to Beckett. "Was that widely known you'd be flying?" he asked Skye as he turned to her.

"It might have been on the site, but you'll have to read it again to check," the investigator said.

Grabbing Beckett's computer, Castle went onto the British Airways site, and read the press release about the flight. "It's not here," he said. "So he calls and poses as media, or a friend of yours," he said to Skye. "We could try and track him that way."

"It'll be a burner phone," Beckett said. "But I'll make a call to the company and-"

"I think I can handle that," Skye interrupted as Beckett's phone began to ring. She picked up her own phone, and went into her room.

Watching the investigator go, Beckett answered her phone, seeing it was the DCPD. "Beckett," she said. She listened for a moment and then put it on speaker.

"And we found a cell phone, sitting on a bench here at the park," a woman on the other end said. "Canvassed everyone we could find, and got a couple of witnesses who saw a guy in a fedora pulled down low leaving the same bench around the time the investigator received that phone call. They describe him as Caucasian and with black hair."

"Nothing else around the park?" Beckett asked.

"I'm sorry Detective, but he did get into a taxi the same witnesses said, but no luck getting a license plate," the woman replied.

"Alright, if it's possible, it would be a big help if you can show those two witnesses a couple of sketches I have of the suspect, see if they can confirm it's him," Beckett said. "Thank you for your help," she then told the officer before hanging up. "Really wish we could have gone."

"I don't think she would have minded if we had, or you had at least," Castle said. "You could have asked the PD to send someone to watch her."

"Too risky," Beckett said as she walked by Skye's chair. She paused when she saw the drawing on the paper and then looked up as the investigator walked out. "This isn't too bad," she said, holding up the drawing of another 747.

"Thanks, that's for your daughter," Skye said. "I was running low on ideas and decided why not; my daughters have enough of my drawings," she quickly told Beckett before she could saying anything. "I talked to the airline, and according to them, there's been a couple of calls about that story to them. Only one of them was suspicious. A British man calling very long distance, meaning here in the states, asked if I would be flying and asked for details. Gave the excuse of going to be writing a book about me. Wasn't until I told them it was bollocks that they realized he'd lied. They're sending you their phone records."

"Just like that?" Castle asked as Beckett leaned over him since her computer was still in front of him.

"Pretty much, I have a number of friends there… almost everyone," Skye said. "The others are newer to the company, but they're not potential suspects."

"I guessed," Beckett said. "Let me sit," she told Castle before he got out of his chair.

"So, how're you doing?" Castle said randomly as they waited for Beckett.

"I'm fine," Skye said, watching the detective. "Anything?" she asked.

"I'm not sure…" Beckett said, typing a few more times. "Damn," she said as she stopped and stood up.

"What?" Castle asked, leaning over to look at the screen.

"I have… no, wait, what day was that phone call?" Beckett asked.

"About three months ago," Skye said.

Looking down the list of numbers, Beckett saw one that was from a New York number, and hurriedly searched it before the location came up. "The Red Moon Café, Yonkers. Yonkers again. I need to call Ryan and Esposito," she said, grabbing her phone.

* * *

"Skye?" Castle said, knocking on the door to the other room. "Hey, we're about to eat if you want to join us," he said, stepping inside when she'd called him in.

"Sure, anything?" Skye asked as she followed him.

"Any idea who this is?" Beckett asked, holding up a picture.

"This…" Skye began. She hesitated, and then thought for a moment before shaking her head. "I thought I did, there's something familiar about him."

"It's his eyes isn't it?" Castle asked. When the investigator nodded he said to Beckett, "See, told you it was the eyes that did it."

"Who is he?" Skye then asked.

"His name is Michael Palin," Beckett said. "And he's six feet tall, British, and that name is completely fake."

"That I'm aware of, I'm a Python fan," Skye said absently. "The scar on his chin… no, I thought he was someone I may have seen once, but a long time ago. A friend of my father's, but he never had any kids."

"Quinn Larson? We looked into him," Castle said. "He had no family." When Skye looked up at him he said, "Sorry, I… thought you would have known."

"I haven't seen him since I was six, terrible to hear he's passed," Skye said, handing the picture back to Beckett. "Can you find this guy?" she then said after a pause.

"Scarface seems to have disappeared," Castle said before Beckett could answer. "What?" he said when he saw she was giving him a look. "Better than calling him Palin, don't want to tarnish the comedian's name."

"He has a point, anyways," Skye said, trying to bring the conversation back to her question.

"He's disappeared," Beckett said. "Ryan and Esposito looked at his address and talked to Joseph Cornell-Smith, who he was living with. And apparently he didn't know that our suspect was living under an assumed name."

"It helped there wasn't any mail addressed to Michael Palin, and Cornell didn't see Scarface's ID," Castle said.

"He also mentioned him flying on United yesterday afternoon, about six," Beckett said. "So Ryan checked the flight manifest, everyone checked out except for Eric Idle," she said as she handed Skye a picture of the man at JFK. She was a little surprised to see the expression on the woman's face and asked, "Are you okay?"

"I'm sorry," Skye said quickly. "My father was a huge Monty Python fan; that was his favorite and Palin was his second favorite. So he knows my father, really well, it wasn't until I was older that I found that out about my father actually. But somehow the killer did and he's using this as a taunt."

"But the Palin ID wasn't a new one," Castle said. "Apparently he's been living with Cornell-Smith for about six years."

"And no mail?" Skye asked in surprise.

"No mail, he had a PO Box which made Cornell suspicious, but, he said Palin… Idle, whatever you want to call him," Beckett said. "Said something about debt so he didn't question it. We did try to pick where he went once he left the plane, but he just walked out the airport terminal, and kept on walking, the trail is cold until that phone call."

"No suspicious names at any hotels?" Skye asked.

"They're still looking, but at first glance, nothing. He could be staying at a flop house for all we know, using a completely different name that won't really garner attention," Beckett said. "But we'll be on high alert tomorrow."

Nodding, Skye sat down and then said, "You know if you need me to just stay here so you can be more hands on with this investigation then I'll be glad to."

"If we don't find him, then we'll draw him back to New York," Beckett said. "I'll need you to stay back at the station again."

"That's fine, but really, I feel like I'm keeping you from doing your job," Skye said uncomfortably.

"Not really, with him here in DC, it's better we lay low for a while, make him second guess himself," Beckett said. "And if you're trying to get me to leave you with an officer, I'm afraid I can't do that. I have my orders, and I need to stick to them."

"I'm surprised you're telling me so much about this case; to you, I'm a civilian," Skye said as she took a slice from one of the pizzas that was on the table.

"It's been helpful to do that actually," Castle said.

"He's right," Beckett agreed. "If we didn't have you around, our suspect list would have been everyone you ever knew. It would take us a lot longer than it has to narrow our list down to this guy with the scar."

"And technically you are an investigator," Castle pointed out. "Different kind, but still, you pretty much are one in the end. It is what you're officially called."

"So if I can ask and you can answer, what's the next step?" Skye asked.

"I'd feel better if we were back in the city, but that's where the killer is more comfortable, so I'm hoping he'll act here and make a mistake," Beckett mused.

"He might, this much time and nothing but a phone call? The way he's been going he's overdue to do something," Castle said.

They were all quiet at that, knowing the risk to the investigator if the killer did try and do something. But finally Beckett spoke up saying, "Any reason why you took the picture?" wanting to keep Skye's mind off the continued threat to her life.

"Oh, I wasn't really finished yet," the investigator said. She stood up and left the room, going to her own to grab something from the table there. When she got back to Castle and Beckett, she handed the latter the drawing she'd begun earlier.

"You drew this?" Beckett said, almost flabbergasted as the blue plane had a few horses drawn on the fuselage close to the tail. "You told her she likes horses?" she said to Castle.

"The plane needed something," Skye said, sitting back down. "I like how that came out actually, I should suggest it to an airline if I ever get asked to draw for them. But I'd need to first see if it's a country that's known for horses."

"My daughter will love this," Beckett said. "Again, thank you."

Giving a nonchalant shrug, Skye said, "It's not any kind of effort on my part of course, and as I said, my daughters have plenty of my drawings in their rooms. I drew one like that for my Marie, she adores horses. And I then drew one with unicorns on it for Kathleen."

"You miss your daughters," Castle said, seeing the wistful look on the woman's face.

"Yeah," Skye said, sounding a little startled at what he'd said. She shook herself and then looked down into her glass of wine. "Hopefully she'll like that," she then said to Beckett.

"I'm sure she will," she replied, not blaming the investigator for missing her children. Beckett suddenly found herself missing Julia badly, and she glanced at Castle as she took a sip of wine, hoping that they would be able to get back home as soon as possible.

* * *

"Hi Mommy," Julia said, yawning widely and rubbing her eye.

"Hey sweetie, you look like you're pretty tired," Beckett said, smiling down at her daughter on the screen of her tablet.

"Grandpapa took me to the park," Julia said with a wide smile. "And he let me play for a long time."

"I'm glad to hear you're having fun," Beckett replied before she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at Castle and then said to Julia, "How are you doing?"

"Okay," the little girl said. "Hi Castle," she said when she saw him on the screen. "I had fun in school. I made a picture for you Mommy."

"I can't wait to see it," Beckett said. "And guess what?"

"What?" Julia asked.

"We're coming home tomorrow," Beckett said.

Squealing a little at that, Julia asked, "For real Mommy?"

"Yes," Beckett replied with a slight laugh. "Tell your grandpapa, but I'm not sure when we're coming back yet."

"Kay," Julia said. "Are you done working?"

"Not yet, but we can go back home," Beckett said. "Tell me about how school went for you today. I want to hear everything that happened."

Smiling slightly at that, Castle squeezed her arm before he walked around to the other side of the bed and sat down with his own tablet. He went on the internet and did a quick perusal of his e-mails before he looked over at Beckett as he heard her urging her daughter to go to bed. "Night Julia," he said when she had handed her tablet to him. "We're going to go to bed pretty soon ourselves, so you're not going to be the only one asleep."

"Kay," Julia said in a kind of dejected sigh. "Night Castle, will I see you tomorrow?"

"You will," Castle said, glancing at Beckett who nodded quickly. "Sweet dreams though."

"Thank you, night," Julia said a little shyly. "Night Mommy, I love you, I miss you too."

"I know, I miss you sweetie, but get some rest and tomorrow night when you go to bed I'll read twenty pages," Beckett said, not sure she should make that kind of promise as she wasn't sure where she was going to be concerning her case yet. But she said it anyway, not wanting to disappoint her daughter.

"Thank you Mommy!" Julia said happily. "Night."

"I love you Julia, goodnight," Beckett said, blowing her a kiss. She then said goodnight to her father before he turned off his tablet, and she set hers down on the nightstand, glancing at Castle.

"We'll be home tomorrow," he said quickly.

"I know, I was thinking about her," Beckett said, nodding towards Skye's room. "She does this all the time, constantly. And sometimes further than this. She's been to Germany for a case Boeing requested her help with. And she had just adopted her daughters according to the date of the accident."

Castle wanted to mention that it was more than likely Skye's father's death was pushing her to continue with her work, but stopped himself. He had to wonder, if Beckett ever managed to bring down Bracken, would she continue as a Detective as Skye had continued as an Investigator.

"What?" Beckett asked, wondering what was going through his mind.

"Nothing, sorry, was just wondering how Alexis was doing," Castle said. "It's kind of the same situation just… reversed."

"Good point," Beckett said, knowing that was not what he was thinking. But she felt a little stressed and tired and didn't want to draw it out of him.

"Now I remember to ask you, what was it like?" Castle asked.

"What was what like?" Beckett asked, getting up on the bed but sitting opposite of him so they could face each other.

"Putting on that jacket," Castle stated.

"You realize it didn't actually make me an NTSB Investigator right?" Beckett asked, a smile turning up the corners of her lips. "It's not like Iron Man's suit… or Green Lantern's ring. It was as if I was wearing a jacket that said POLICE, just had different spelling. You're sure you don't want me to be with the NTSB?" she then teased him.

"I said it before, I wouldn't be able to follow you if you were at the federal level, well, I could, but not as long as I've been with you as a detective," Castle said. "And another thing, I'll let you in on a secret; it's incredibly hard to write mystery books centered on airplanes."

"Are you sure?" Beckett asked, smiling as he was holding onto her wrist and had pulled her close to whisper the last sentence.

"Pretty sure, a lot of the time I have no idea what she's been talking about," Castle said. "And I've never really been into planes before this. I've liked the designs, but different types? Never paid much attention to them except knowing that I have wanted to fly on an A380; especially after seeing the one we were in today. No, but I have been thinking about how I could maybe work this into the Nikki Heat series."

"Basing a character on her?" Beckett asked, sitting with her arms wrapped around her knees as he had let go of her.

"Yes, but they'll work together, to a degree… I haven't thought about the idea too much, but it's in my mind. I've set it aside to think about later," Castle said.

"Great, so I'm guessing that whatever you're looking at here is dealing with that?" Beckett asked, gesturing to his tablet.

"Pretty much," Castle said as he turned it towards her so she could see he was on a website for the show _Air Crash Investigation_.

"Again? I really don't know if you should be watching that so much," Beckett said, shaking her head.

"Why not?" Castle asked in surprise at her tone.

"Because, I don't want to spend the flight back home tomorrow hearing you asking 'what's that' every time there's a noise coming from the plane," Beckett said, smiling so he knew she was joking.

"Funny, but I could just sit with Skye, and she'll hopefully know what's going on. She should, she can read a plane; it's a little other worldly," Castle said absently. "Oh, that has to go into the book, gives it a little supernatural kick."

Sighing though she was smiling, Beckett said, "So you're going to watch that?"

"Yeah… unless you're in the mood for something else," Castle said slowly. "Not that," he quickly said when he could tell she was about to protest. "To watch something else."

"No, it's alright, but you know I'll have to sit with Skye tomorrow still," Beckett said.

"Then I'll keep my fear under control," Castle said as she moved to sit next to him and he wrapped his arms around her as she held the tablet for him. "So what're we watching?" he asked her.

Smiling as she looked at him, Beckett kissed him firmly on the lips then, not surprised when he coaxed her into a deeper one. She then let him entice her tongue into his mouth, nearly losing her grip on the tablet as she wrapped her arms around him as they turned to each other enough so they weren't bent awkwardly. She let him trail from her lips to her neck, her fatigue becoming a little lost as her skin woke up under his touch. "We… why don't we decide on the episode?" she finally said.

"Sure," Castle said. "But the next episode, ladies first."

Sighing that time to indicate she was giving in, Beckett looked at the episode guide and scrolled down the page until she reached an episode description. " _Collision of the Century_ …" she read slowly. "In Tenerife… you know what, I know about this crash."

"How?" Castle asked in surprise.

"My dad was going to go to Spain around this time, but when the crash happened my grandmother begged him to reconsider, so he took the train down here to DC instead," Beckett said. "He always says now that that made him want to go to Spain much more than before."

"Funny how fate works," Castle said, stressing the word fate.

"A really terrible coincidence," Beckett said, shaking her head and looking serious. "You've never heard of this?"

"No, but I think I will now," Castle said. He set the episode to play as he wondered what had made her react like that. "You said Spain?" he whispered when the episode mentioned Tenerife was one of the Canary Islands.

"They belong to Spain," Beckett said simply. "It was close enough for my grandmother."

Nodding, Castle watched the rest of the episode with her, and by the end of it said, "I see what you mean now… that was… devastating."

"It was, I'm so relieved he wasn't there for a visit," Beckett said, shaking her head. "He flew Pan-Am while they were still in business."

"Should we stop or go ahead with another?" Castle asked.

"One more, hopefully one with a happier ending…" Beckett said, scrolling back up. "Here, this sounds more promising, _Miracle Escape_. It says an Air France crashed on landing but everyone made it out of the burning plane within 90 seconds."

"You have to wonder," Castle said as he set up the episode to start. "What would you do if you survived a crash like that? Or Tenerife?"

"Like they kept saying, appreciate life a lot more," Beckett said. "But we'll be okay, Skye keeps insisting planes are safer than cars."

"True, I've been in more incidents in cars than any in planes," Castle said. "So I'll take her word for it."

"Me too," Beckett said before she pressed closer to him, suddenly thinking of her daughter. The thought was a little unsettling, and she tried to change her focus by abruptly pausing the show on the tablet, kissing Castle as deeply as she could. As he laid her back on the bed; the episode forgotten; she held on to him tightly, clinging to him and the very much welcomed distraction that he readily and gladly provided as they held one another closely.


	12. With No Warning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song All Things Must Pass by George Harrison, from his album of the same name.

"Kind of looks like the Louvre," Castle commented as they walked down the path to a tall T shaped building.

"The unofficial nickname some of us have for that is the Louvre-let," Skye said, looking back at him. "But we're headed for there," she said, pointing out the structure behind the glass pyramid. "And the Chairman will be meeting us in the lobby."

"Yeah, isn't the Chairman a woman? Why is her title Chairman?" Castle asked.

"It's just how it's done," Skye said with a shrug, looking at Beckett who'd been quiet as they'd walked up to the NTSB Headquarters. "I can't explain it any better than that because they've been doing that since before I joined. Beckett?"

"Sorry," she said quickly, turning to the investigator. "Why are we here exactly?"

"Peter and I need to go over what we're going to be saying during the press conference," Skye replied. "And look over the animation they made for it as well. But it shouldn't take that long. I'm sorry I couldn't get us an earlier flight."

"That's alright," Beckett said. "Because in the end we'll get back to the city. But until we leave, I'd like to remain at the hotel for your safety."

"Fine by me," Skye said as Castle walked ahead of them at the doors and opened one for them. "Do you know much about Chairman Duke?" she asked once they were inside.

"Not a lot," Castle said, glancing at Beckett as he'd been the one to start looking into the woman they were going to be meeting. "Just her basic information and her education and career up until now."

"We were a little surprised that you never mentioned you worked with her," Beckett said. "As leaders of the Human Performance team while Peter King was the IIC and after that Susan Choi."

"Well, shortly after that I was promoted to IIC myself, she returned to DC. She was more into the bureaucratic aspect of the NTSB," Skye said, speaking quickly as they were about to go through security to get into the main part of the lobby. "We talk a lot, but it tends to be e-mails, since it's hard to keep in touch more than that with our work. But we're good friends."

Walking into the lobby, there was a low call of, "Skye!" and the investigator looked over in the direction of the voice before suddenly throwing her bag on her shoulder down and running to the woman who'd spoken.

His eyes wide as he watched the two women hug each other tightly, Castle said out of the corner of his mouth, "Should we be worried for her wife?"

"I don't think so, the Chairman's married remember," Beckett said, looking over at him as he picked the bag up off the floor. When she felt she could go to the two she walked over and waited until they let go of each other.

"How's Grace?" Skye was asking.

"Good, our son is doing great," the Chairman of the NTSB, Helen Duke said before she let go of Skye. "I couldn't believe it when I heard about Livia, and I'm so sorry about Sarah."

"I know, but… the thing now is to find the bastard who did this," Skye said, turning towards Beckett. "This is-"

"Detective Beckett," Helen said, shaking her hand. "Peter informed me of the orders you received from the President. And about you as well Mr. Castle, the source of the idea Skye had to figure out what happened to Pacific Air. Please, we need to meet him in my office and since we have little time to do a review, we should go."

Watching as the two women talked ahead of them, Beckett glanced over at Castle before looking at him more closely when she saw he was a little further behind them. "Castle, keep up," she said, seeing he was looking at some pictures on the wall they were passing.

"Sorry, just… really interesting," he said apologetically as they went into an elevator with the two women. They walked a little further once reaching the sixth floor before following Skye and Helen into an office. "Whoa," he said, seeing the model planes in the room on the shelves built into the walls.

"Interesting decorating," Skye said, glancing back at him. When she saw he was carrying her bag she took it from him saying, "Thank you."

"I'm wondering Detective," Helen directed to Beckett. "If I can ask how your investigation is going, do you have anything that's going to bring it to a close?"

A little confused at how the Chairman had worded that, Beckett then realized the woman was wording it as she would for an accident investigation. "Actually, there's something I need to ask you before I can answer that," she said.

"Any idea who this is?" Skye asked, taking a picture from her bag that she'd carried for Beckett and handing it to Helen.

Studying it, the woman began to speak, but then shook her head saying, "I really thought I did for an instant there… he looks so familiar but I can't really place it."

"The eyes," Skye said simply, looking at Castle.

"Definitely the eyes, but, not sure why," Helen said, handing the picture back to Skye. "I'm sorry Detective."

"It's alright, but to answer your question now, that's our main person of interest," Beckett told her. "And I have another question, security?"

"All set, Metro is ready for you and once you get there I'm sure there'll be someone to talk to you about the setup and all of that. May we go ahead with our investigation?" Helen said as there was a knock on the door. She gestured to Peter King who could be seen on the other side of the glass door after Beckett had nodded her agreement, and said, "Are we set?"

"We are, glad to see you," the IIC said to Skye.

"You as well," she replied. She then turned to Castle and Beckett who were leaning against the wall next to the door and said, "I have to ask you don't really talk about what we're going to discuss right now. Some of it we're not about to reveal yet to the media."

"Morrison?" Beckett asked.

"And the maintenance forms being forged?" Castle said.

"Exactly," Skye said. "It shouldn't take us that long."

"I'll find it fascinating," Castle said, knowing she was trying to apologize in case they became bored. "Not sure about her."

"I may need to step out if I get a call from the DC police," Beckett said simply.

"By all means, I'm safe here," Skye said simply.

As the three began to discuss the case, starting with a quick timeline on the TV on the opposite wall, Beckett was watching as her fiancé was obviously listening in on everything they were saying. "You know," she whispered, leaning over to him. "If you were only this enthralled when I have my theories I'd have been a little less annoyed with you when we first met."

"I have my doubts," Castle said, glancing at her.

"Alright," Helen said then, getting Beckett and Castle's attention. "Let's cue up the animation, I would like to see and hear how everything happened that you've told me."

"So this is about twenty minutes until impact," Skye said as a CGI image of the Pacific Air 737 came up on the screen. She waited for the CVR recording of the co-pilot noticing the oil leak warning from the engine to play before she handed Helen a picture of the engine. "That's the number one engine, as you can see; it's flamed out due to said oil leak. By the time that engine failed they were already on course for JFK, so they had no choice but to glide. They were close," she finished.

Wincing slightly as the animation showed the plane sliding along a green field and breaking up into sections, Castle watched as the NTSB Chairman looked at Skye.

"So that's it," Helen said simply.

"That's it," Skye said. "A greedy maintenance worker thinking he could skim the money for the procedure, and the plane is set to fail."

"This could have been TWA 800 so easily," Helen said with a shudder. "Okay, we're going to go. Peter, you'll meet us there, I want you to go with Sam, Norah and Victor. Detective, I'm not sure how you want to do this, so I'll let you take over here," the woman said as she took off her blazer.

"Alright, are the cars in a secluded area?" Beckett asked, nudging Castle as Skye took off her coat as well.

"They're waiting along the curb that's at the back entrance," Helen said. "It's a short distance."

"Then we'll be fine," Beckett said, standing up to unbutton her coat to make sure she had ready access to her gun. "Are you ready?" she asked the investigator who had slipped on her NTSB jacket over her white blouse.

"Set," Skye said.

"Follow Castle please," Beckett said. "Once we get outside I need you to head to the car as fast as you possibly can go," she said, directing that mostly to Castle. "And follow him closely," the latter to the investigator.

"Got it," Skye said with a nod as they started to leave the office. She waved to a few people they passed as they walked to the elevator and then went down to the back of the building. Once they were outside, she strode after Castle, glancing behind her at Beckett who had her hand hovering over the opening of her coat as she looked at their surroundings.

Hearing Skye sigh slightly once they were sitting in the backseat of an unmarked SUV, Beckett said, "I didn't think there'd be much danger."

"Neither did I," Skye said simply. "But you never know."

"It's why she was ready for it," Castle said. "Whether or not there was any threat. She's pretty good at that." Seeing both Beckett and Skye were looking at him, he shrugged and said, "It's true."

Shaking her head as he leaned back in the seat, Beckett said, "Will you be staying the entire press conference?"

"Better that she does," Helen said, sitting in the passenger seat. "But once she explains the events of the crash, she'll be finished and she'll be with some of the other members of the go team."

"Investigator King let me know how that was going to work," Beckett said. "I appreciate your attention to detail."

"We're hoping that'll be enough," Helen said.

"It will be," Skye said simply. "But I think we need to just focus on the press conference ourselves, I have no doubt she'll do a great job. Alright Helen, do you want me to mention their decent rate as I'm going through the timeline?"

Looking out of his window, Castle noticed a police car in front of them and then looked behind to see a motorcycle cop tailing them. They weren't close enough to them to point out someone important, but it was enough to make him wonder if Beckett had asked for the escort.

"She asked for the police," Skye said absently, looking at a piece of paper and nodding at the Chairman.

"I suggested just a single escort," Beckett said, glancing behind them.

"I guess Metro thought we could use a second one," Helen said, glancing back as well.

Nodding slightly, Beckett looked back again to watch the officer riding behind them. When they'd managed to reach the hangar at JFK, she got out of the car first, telling Skye and Castle to remain inside, having her hand as close to her weapon as she could. "Officer," she called to the man as he got off the motorcycle.

"Detective?" the officer asked, stopping. When Beckett nodded he said, "Captain decided a second escort would help out."

Nodding again at that, Beckett turned and motioned to Skye to come out. She got the investigator inside as quickly as she could and told Castle, "Watch her for me."

"Okay," Castle said, but Beckett was already walking away from him before he could finish. He stuck close to Skye as he watched his fiancée walk over to the police officers that were near the door.

"Captain Wilson, Detective," the man in charge said, shaking Beckett's hand. "We've secured the perimeter and have people stationed at the three entrances and exits. Media's been checked and rechecked per your request. These officers will keep an eye on everyone at all times during the press conference."

"Thank you Captain, I'll be standing nearest Investigator McDouglas, I need you to be within my sight should the situation warrant any commands," Beckett said.

"Everything set?" Castle asked when she walked back to him a few minutes later.

"Pretty much, just some last minute things," Beckett said, looking over at Skye who was at a computer behind the temporary wall that had been set up with a podium, table and chairs in front of the 747, a TV hanging from the wall.

"Where do you want me to be during this?" Castle asked.

"Over there," Beckett said, nodding with her head.

"Keep an eye on the media?" Castle said, not really surprised she'd indicated an empty chair in the last row set up for the reporters.

"Pretty much. Thanks," Beckett said as he walked around the rows of chairs. She then went to Skye and once the woman had left the computer said, "I need to stand behind you, not so I'm in a picture should they take one, but enough to ensure your safety if I need to."

"Here," Skye said, pointing to a spot to the left of the wall. "You'll have a good view of everything here and of me there in the second chair next to the podium. What about when I talk?"

"I'll step closer, I would imagine they'll be focused on you," Beckett said simply.

"Skye," Helen said, coming over to them. "We're going to start, we're already running late."

"Of course we are," Skye said simply, a small smile on her face. She nodded to Beckett and started to walk after the Chairman before pausing and asking, "Castle?"

"Joined the press," Beckett said. She returned the smile that Skye gave her after seeing him, and walked after the investigator before standing where she had indicated was the best place for her. She glanced around quickly at everyone assembled, and then looked at Castle who shook his head so slightly if she hadn't known him she would have missed it. She gave him the briefest nod, and then looked over as the Chairman began to speak at the podium.

Trying not to focus on the conference, Castle glanced around as surreptitiously as he could, but no one in the media was doing anything other than writing, taking pictures or filming as the Chairman handed over things to Skye. He looked over at Beckett to see that she was scanning the area quickly before looking back to the investigator. Glancing back over his shoulder, he saw the police officers stationed next to the doors shifting slightly, one of them slipping outside and stationing himself near the path to the hangar. Knowing the police had everything in hand; he turned and watched Skye as she spoke about the engine failure.

"And receiving the warning, the pilot ordered it to be shut down, and in doing so, turned off the only functioning engine on the aircraft," the investigator was saying. She quickly went into the sequence of events that led to the other engine failing, and the pilots flying an essential glider until impact at the park in NYC. "With our investigation, it has been determined that considerable wear to the wiring of the 737 has most lightly caused an electrical arc, leading to the display screen in the cockpit to read the wrong engine was suffering a massive oil leak." And with that, she stepped back to let Peter step up from behind her to take over the questioning. She looked over at Beckett, and let out a slight sigh before sitting back down to wait for the IIC to finish as the media began to clamor for answers after her speech.

* * *

"Thank you for your help Captain," Beckett said as the hangar emptied of media and a few employees from Pacific Air dismantled the wall and podium. "I only need an escort back to the hotel Investigator McDouglas is staying at and to the airport later on at two."

"Not a problem," the Captain said before Skye walked up to them with the Chairman.

"I'm sorry Detective, but the CEO of Pac Air is requesting to speak with Skye and we need to go into the other hangar for the communication equipment they have," Helen said.

Before Beckett could answer, her phone started to ring and she pulled it out of her pocket, seeing that it was Esposito. "Okay, but, I need to take this call," she said, knowing that he had found something. "I need one of your officers to escort her momentarily for me," she said to the Captain.

"Sure, Officer Banks?" the man said, motioning to the man who had indicated he would do it. "Take her and Chairman Duke up to the offices and Detective Beckett will join you to take over."

"Yes sir," the officer said before following the two women.

Castle looked on after the group, not sure why, but something bothering him about the situation. Before he could say anything though, Beckett grabbed his arm and they went into a little room where they could hear Esposito.

"You're on speaker Espo, what did you find?" Beckett said as she looked up at Castle, seeing he was looking out the window. She wondered what he was thinking, but their partner then spoke, and she completely forgot to ask.

"I was looking at that death certificate and the police report for Harry Brooks," Esposito began.

"The pilot in the crash-" Castle began to say.

"No his son, from the police in Arizona," Esposito interrupted shortly. "And there's something that didn't make sense to me, the pictures of the prints around the blood. I did some survivalist training before I got shipped out, and did it in Arizona with a couple of army buddies. First thing we were taught, was to ID the prints from the predators we needed to worry about there. First off were mountain lions, and the report claims that's what killed Brooks. But in that picture, those are not mountain lion paw prints, they're jaguar prints."

"Then a jaguar killed Brooks," Beckett said.

"No, no, they can come up that far, but here's the problem with the ones in the sand over there," Esposito said. "The patterns were too random and too wide apart, the animal would have had to have been six feet tall to make those kinds of marks."

"So Brooks had a fake paw?" Castle asked.

"Pretty much, I made some calls, and you can get them in Mexico, though the black market," Esposito said. "Also took a look at the blood type found in the desert, and Brooks' and they do not match. AB+ in the desert, and O- from Brooks, so it's not him."

"Okay, so… we looked at a picture of Brooks though," Beckett said, looking up at Castle.

"Yeah, I talked to his sister about the photo from the DMV we have, and it was taken about six years before his supposed death," Esposito said. "Hold on, Ryan has it, let me take a picture."

"We've seen it already," Castle said quickly.

"The last known photo of Brooks, his sister sent it to the Precinct," Esposito replied.

Getting the text with the photo, Beckett opened it and then looked at it in shock before looking up at Castle as he looked at her with his eyes wide.

"Yo Beckett," Esposito said, wondering if they'd lost their connection.

"Yeah, no, it's, it's him," Beckett said. "The man from the coffee shop surveillance, he had surgery obviously to change the shape of his face, he looks more like his father. And…"

"Officer Banks," she and Castle said at the same time.

"Oh God, Espo, I need to go," Beckett said shortly before she hung up her phone on the photo of the pilot's son.

"I told you that it was the eyes," Castle said. "He must have been wearing a blue contact, something about Skye having different colored eyes," he told Beckett as they left the hangar. In the surveillance photo the man had a clearly visible blue eye and one dark, but Harry Brooks had two very dark brown eyes, and it was that that had made him take notice of the man. "There's the Chairman," he said as they saw Helen Duke walking towards them.

"Where's Skye?" Beckett said, closing the gap between them and the woman by running the rest of the way.

"I had to stop to take a phone call myself," Helen said. "She should be in the hangar, the officer was esco-"

Beckett took off at a run before the woman could finish speaking, withdrawing her gun as she heard Castle following. She rushed through the open doors, her weapon at the ready, looking around to see any sign of the investigator or officer. Seeing no one in the hanger, she started to walk over to the doorway leading to the offices when Castle called to her.

"Look," he said, pointing to something glinting in the sun towards the back of the 747 parked there.

Going over to the object, Beckett soon saw it was two items, and she breathed in sharply as she picked up the necklace. Watching the pilot's wings with the British Airways insignia in the middle twisting and throwing off the beams of light striking it, she picked up Skye's NTSB ID badge and stood; her horrified gaze meeting Castle's before they looked at the trail of blood spatter leading to the door ahead of them.


	13. Pain You've Gone Through

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a phrase in Russian here, I was a little stupid and forgot to save what I'd intended to say in English before I translated it, but I think it's supposed to be 'I have no time, we… four.'
> 
> The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song It's What You Value by George Harrison, from his album Thirty Three & 1/3.

Trying to keep her feet on the ground as she was being dragged through the door of the hangar, Skye spit out some of the blood that had entered her mouth from her nose. She jumped when her phone suddenly started to ring, and said, "Please, I need to get that," hoping her kidnapper let go of her for at least a second to let her get away. She cried out as Brooks threw her to the ground and she broke her fall with her hands before taking her phone out of her pocket.

"Who is it?" Brooks demanded, holding the gun he'd used to take her with him to her forehead.

"M-My friend in Russia, she, she's going to have a baby, I need to answer or she'll tell someone and they'll start looking for us," Skye stammered, trying to make herself subservient to calm the man.

"Answer, but it'll be a quick conversation, shorter if you tell her what's going on," Brooks said, cocking the gun.

"Yekaterina?" Skye said into the phone.

"Skye-" Beckett started to say; a little startled the investigator had said her name in Russian.

" _U menya net vremeni, my_ … _chetyre_!" was all that Castle and Beckett heard on the other end before the connection was lost.

"What did she say?" Castle asked as Beckett quickly opened the tracking app.

"She tried to tell me where they were, but got cut off and yelled the number-" she started to reply.

"Four, yeah, I know that word," Castle said. "Can you find her?"

"No, I can't get in any closer," Beckett said, seeing the map only showed the indicator at the airport. "Four…" she said, glancing down at the pendant she still had in her hand. She looked at Castle, and the same look of realization appeared on their faces at the same time before they started to run out of the hangar.

"The BA hangars were over here," Castle said, leading the way.

"Hey, stop, you can't come in here," an employee from the airline said as the two ran up to the doors.

"I'm looking for Investigator McDouglas," Beckett said, looking past the man at another employee. "Have you seen her coming in with anyone?"

"No," the other employee called out. "We're about to close up shop though."

"Is there a 747 in here?" Beckett asked.

"Yeah, we finished up with her not too long ago, she'll be inspected in about three hours," the employee said.

"I need you to call the police, tell them Investigator McDouglas is being held hostage here," Beckett said. "And you two need to get away from this hangar. Go, now," she said forcefully finally when they seemed to be stuck in place.

Castle watched the two men running away from them, and asked, "Are we waiting for backup?"

"We wait and he'll take the chance he has to make her his last victim," Beckett said. "I have you at least." Slipping Skye's necklace into her jacket pocket, she pulled her gun before she reached down to her right boot, pulling out her spare gun. Handing it to Castle she then nodded down to the smaller door of the hangar.

Running down to it, Castle waited for Beckett, opening the door once she had nodded to him. He followed her, the gun in his hands pointed down at floor. They stepped out of the small room they'd entered, and into the main part of the hangar where there was a 747 parked, only a flight of stairs leading up to the open fuselage door.

Motioning to Castle to head into the shadows, Beckett followed him, looking up at the cabin windows. Her eyes narrowed, she soon saw the shadow of a figure inside and she turned to him whispering, "Once you're in the plane, go to the side and keep out of sight while I check where they are." At his nod of understanding, she walked carefully to the aircraft, her gun aimed up at the shadow that soon became two figures, moving back and forth in the small windows.

Walking as slowly as he could to keep his footsteps from echoing; Beckett doing the same ahead of him; Castle saw the trail of blood appearing again, but that time in a large amount of spatter, and a little smeared around the edges. From the four long smears, he guessed Skye had been on the ground, breaking her fall. The trail then moved towards the plane, small dots in a sporadic pattern, indicating she was likely being carried. He waited for Beckett to start up the flight of stairs to the plane, and then followed two steps behind her, watching the windows to cover her as she was looking up into the cabin.

Breathing softly, Beckett waited at the top of the stairs; hearing muffled yelling as Castle reached her. She motioned him in with her head, and he quickly ran across to the other side of the fuselage, out of sight by the shelves for food and drinks. She then entered, and peered around the edge down the plane quickly. She had a quick image of two figures, but hadn't been able to see much more than that.

Waving to her, Castle indicated her phone and mimed taking a picture. When she nodded and quickly pulled it out, he placed his finger of the trigger of the gun to make sure he was covering her as he was listening to the scuffle that was going on down the aisle.

Opening the camera on her phone, Beckett zoomed as far as it allowed, and swallowed hard when she could make out Skye, on the ground and her face a bloody mess. She then saw Brooks, and a rope knotted into a noose, and put her camera back inside her pocket. She looked at Castle, and when he nodded, stepped out into the aisle. "Harry Brooks," she said once they were close enough and she saw she needed to get the man's attention when he slapped Skye across the face. There was no response to that though, as the investigator began to fight back against her attacker, kicking her heel so it dug into his leg. "Brooks," she yelled as loudly as she could.

Head shooting up at that, the man grabbed Skye and put his arm around her neck, showing the gun he had as he pressed it to her head. "Put those down," he growled to Beckett and Castle. "I don't care if I throw her out of this plane already dead, but one way or another she will be."

"Put the gun down Brooks, you're out manned," Beckett said, taking a step forward as the man took a step back. "Stop," she said as he ducked into an aisle. "Skye," she started to say when the man kicked out the emergency door over the wing that moment. She thought the investigator could try to escape while Brooks was distracted, but when Skye made a gurgling noise she knew the noose and his arm were cutting off her air. She felt unsure for a second if she should try and just shoot the man before he killed Skye, but he ended up deciding the matter for her.

Firing a shot at first Castle and then Beckett, Brooks ducked down with Skye to the floor as she immediately returned fire. He then dragged along the floor after Beckett had stopped shooting. He kept a tight grip on Skye, who was trying to dig her heels into the ground, sliding along the carpet as she could find no purchase. At the doorway, he got up, but ducked behind his hostage, putting her face to face with the barrel of Beckett's gun. "Put it down or I will force you to shoot her," he said in absolute fury as the detective had somehow managed to sneak up on them without him noticing.

"I'll shoot you first Brooks, let her go," Beckett said firmly.

"It's going to end now," Brooks said, switching his gun to his hand that was near Skye's throat, shifting his arm to point it under her chin. "I've spent too many years trying to get this bitch to pay for what she did to my father. I'm going to finish it and get back what should be mine."

Though she knew she had to stop them from getting out of the cabin, Beckett found herself unable to fire a clear shot at Brooks, his hold keeping Skye in front of him the entire time. She followed them carefully to the doorway, trying not to rush them. She felt Castle coming up behind her and she prayed he wouldn't try to get a shot off right behind her; the distance would likely force Skye to fall off the wing with her captor.

Catching Beckett's gaze, Skye came out of her breathless daze to hear her heels soon going from carpet to metal, and she knew she had run out of time. Out of absolute desperation, she mouthed the word "now" and reached up, clawing at Brooks' face since he'd let go of her and she could move them again, her fingers digging into his skin before he cut off her air again.

Seeing the chance, both Beckett and Castle shot Brooks as soon as he had let go of Skye to grab his face. The shots struck his shoulder and collarbone, and he was sent flying back over the wing, a trail of blood following in his wake.

Skye had forgotten the noose that Brooks had intended to hang her with was wrapped around his arm, and she nearly followed him to the floor of the hangar if she wasn't abruptly stopped. Gasping out as she heard the sickening crunch of Brooks meeting the ground far below the wing, she looked down to see that Beckett was hanging out of the doorway, holding onto the heel of her left boot.

"Help me," Beckett said, glancing back at Castle as he ran to her. Together they managed the pull the investigator back inside the plane, the rope slack as it had fallen off of Brooks' arm at some point. "Are you okay?" she asked as Castle got the rope off the woman's neck, wincing at the bruising there. She was a little startled when Skye began to shake, and touched her shoulder, thinking she was crying. But as she lay back on the ground, she saw Skye was laughing and crying in hysteria, and she looked up as Castle got up to run off the plane to get help. "It's over," she said, having heard the impact of Brooks' body and knowing he was dead. "It's over," she said, feeling a sense of relief that she knew Skye was working through herself. She tried to calm the woman down to keep her from injuring herself further; not knowing if Skye really was listening, but doing her best as she soon heard sirens in the distance.

* * *

"How's she doing?" Castle asked, walking over to Beckett after giving his statement to the FBI Agent that was looking into the death of Brooks and taking over the case from Beckett.

"I don't know, I haven't tried to talk to her, though I should," she replied with a slight smile. "Thank you for having my back and I really mean it this time."

"And I really mean it when I say always," Castle said simply. "No qualms handing this over to the Feds?"

"Not at all, we only have to file some reports with them and at the Precinct, and we're finished," Beckett said. "Excuse me," she said before walking over to the ambulance that was parked by the plane. "Is it alright to speak with her?" she asked the EMT inside.

"Come in," Skye answered herself, motioning with her hand. "I'm pretty much set, right?" she asked the EMT.

"You are, let me talk to the FBI and you should be released," the man said.

"I'm sorry I couldn't say it before, but I really, deeply appreciate what you did for me in there. You too Castle," Skye said, sitting up on the stretcher.

"You're welcome, how're you doing though?" Castle asked, standing at the back of the ambulance.

"Despite some lacerations and bruising, not too badly, I'll be released," Skye said, touching the bruise around her right eye. She sighed and then said, "We'll have to head back to NYC tomorrow. But I should be able to get us an early flight. So he blamed me for the episode on the crash?"

"It looks to be that way," Beckett said. "He's been staying at an SRO since he got here yesterday; where they found the real Officer Banks who Brooks chose because he looked the most like him. The police checked on his things after and found some materials that he used to resemble the officer more, and there's also a diary along with a laptop. The laptop had a chart of what he wanted to do."

"And the surgery to look more like his father?" Skye asked.

"No one's sure, but they're thinking he wanted to take revenge for his father, looking like his father," Castle said. "And it wasn't just the episode that triggered his plan."

"He'd been trying to apply to several airlines to become a pilot, and was turned down every single time," Beckett said. "He's, he had a problem with drinking, and apparently a few times other pilots would give him a hard time about that."

"They compared him to his father," Skye stated.

"Basically, and when he saw the show and saw you…" Castle said. "He also might have been upset you were getting to fly that 747 you designed the livery for."

"That's likely the final trigger," Beckett said.

"He began to set his plan into motion after reading about that," Skye said. She nodded and said, "And he just… lured Lenora, Livia and Sarah?"

"It sounds like it," Beckett said. "They found some e-mails on his laptop to Sarah and Lenora, threatening e-mails. He needed more of a push to get them out to the East Coast."

Skye was quiet at that, and stayed silent until she asked, "Do you think he blamed me for all his failures?"

"It's likely," Beckett said. "But I think he underestimated you."

"That was my survival instinct kicking in," Skye said, knowing she was talking about the injuries she'd managed to inflict on Brooks when he'd gotten her into the plane and before he'd begun choking her which had weakened her. "You know, it's not too late, I could maybe try and get you guys on a flight out tonight, it might be a red eye, but you'd get back home."

"Actually, my assignment isn't over yet," Beckett said.

"What? But Brooks is… Pittman?" Skye then realized with a sigh.

"I spoke with him after I gave a statement to the FBI," Beckett said. "And the Senator is insistent that once I get you back to JFK, then my assignment is finished. He's afraid of someone else wanting to do something similar to you."

"He didn't blame you for me being hurt did he?" Skye asked hesitantly.

"No, he actually thanked us both for what we did," Castle said. "Though how he knew I shot Brooks too I don't know."

Skye nodded and said, "I hate to be the reason you can't get back to your homes."

"How's your head," Beckett asked to distract her.

Shooting the detective a look, Skye just shrugged and said, "I'll want to head back to the hotel after this, sleep everything off."

"That was the plan in the first place," Beckett said, knowing while the investigator was resting, she needed to call Julia and her father to let them know it was going to be another day before she could see them. She glanced at Castle and she could immediately tell he was thinking the same about his mother. Remembering something, she turned to Skye and said, "I have to apologize for something myself. I-"

"You didn't really know he was going to use me as a shield," Skye said quickly, knowing already what she was talking about. "And I get the feeling we startled you before you could realize I was in front. So it doesn't matter one jot, things worked out in the end. Also am insanely glad that my heels are as long as they are. You have a good grip."

"I didn't really have much choice," Beckett said. She was quiet then as the EMT came over to them and she had to get out of the ambulance to let the man give Skye a final check before she could be released.

"Did a great job with this case, assignment," Castle said, correcting himself.

"With the case, yes, it's finished," Beckett said simply. She looked at him and then said in a low tone of voice, "I really wish we could have made that flight."

"Me too," Castle said, squeezing her arm surreptitiously before Skye was helped down out of the ambulance, putting her NTSB jacket back on.

"I almost forgot," Beckett said, reaching into the pocket of her jacket. "I think these belong to you," she said, handing the investigator her ID and then her necklace.

"Thank you so much," Skye said, smiling a little tearfully as she took the pendant in her hand. "This seemed to infuriate him, luckily he didn't break it." She put the necklace back on and said, "Let's get out of here."

* * *

"Hey Dad," Beckett was saying as her father and Julia appeared on the screen of her tablet. "Sorry I'm not there," she said, looking at her daughter.

"Grandpapa said you had to work," Julia said simply. "But you do come home tomorrow Mommy? Right?"

"Cross my heart sweetie," Beckett said, making the motion on her chest. "And I think I owe you thirty pages tomorrow night."

"Oh, really?" Julia asked eagerly. When her mother nodded she then asked, "Where's Castle?"

"Here," he said, coming up behind Beckett. "Hi Julia, sorry we didn't make the flight."

"It's okay, will you read to me too?" Julia asked eagerly.

"I think we'll split that thirty pages in half," Castle said. "If it's okay with your mom."

"It's fine," Beckett said before Julia could respond to that. "Dad? I wanted to tell you the flight; we're arriving at eleven thirty."

"I was talking with Martha about that," Jim said. "And we decided we'll wait for you at Castle's place and have lunch together."

"Good thing we're going back on a Saturday," Castle said to Beckett. "Sounds great actually, it'll be good to see you guys again and catch up with you Julia."

"Can I tell you about school tomorrow Mommy, Castle, and ballet?" the little girl asked excitedly again.

"That's fine," Beckett said. She saw out of the corner of her eye that her phone was ringing, and she quickly picked it up, seeing it was Esposito. "I need to go sweetie, but I'll call you later to say goodnight. Have fun at the movie."

"Yeah, you'll have to tell me how it is," Castle said.

"I will," Julia giggled. She then grew serious and said, "Bye Mommy, I miss you."

"I miss you sweetie, I love you," Beckett said before saying goodbye to her father. She then redialed Esposito's number and put it on speakerphone saying, "Sorry about that, I was just finishing up talking to Julia. And I had to get Castle from his room."

"How's Skye doing," Ryan said from the other end.

"She's alright, sleeping right now," Beckett said. "Why did you call?"

"We have the paperwork," Esposito said. "And we just finished talking with the mother and sister of Brooks. They're pretty horrified at what happened, and they swear they had no idea that he was still alive."

"I'm inclined to believe them," Beckett said. "You have the paperwork of them buying a spot in a mausoleum for him, and it was not cheap. What about Cornell-Smith?"

"Here's the kicker, he knew that Brooks was not who he said he was, but he had no clue that he was the son of the pilot of that flight he lost his uncle in," Ryan said. "He referred to him as Michael, and really thought he was, since that's what all their friends and his own family called him."

"Did you check out his alibis for the times of the murders?" Castle asked.

"Oh yeah, and he's clean on them all, was working every time," Esposito said. "We escorted Cornell-Smith back to Yonkers and took a look at his house. The basement was apparently Michael's area, and somewhere he wasn't able to visit. We called the FBI and searched it, blood from the last two vics down there all over the place. Bastard didn't even try and clean up a speck of it."

"Alright, then if you're finished with your paperwork on your end, I'd say this case is all wrapped up," Beckett said. "Thanks for holding down things up there while we were gone."

"Not a problem," Ryan said.

"You're coming back though right?" Esposito asked.

"Oh I don't know," Beckett said, unable to help joking with him. "The weather's pretty nice, I might stay a few days, sightsee."

"Nice try," Esposito said. "Gates told us about Pittman's request to you. We'll see you after you're back in NYC since you're coming back tomorrow."

"Alright, bye Javi, Kev," Beckett said with a slight laugh before she hung up. "Crazy, crazy case," she said to Castle, shaking her head.

"Not the first time though," he replied. He watched her as she went to the door between their room and Skye's and asked, "Going to check on her?"

Beckett didn't reply to that, as Skye opened the door and when she saw the woman was holding a bag of ice in a towel to her jaw she asked, "Okay?"

"Do I look as bad as I feel right now?" Skye asked instead.

"I'd say Brooks got the worse end of the deal," Castle said, seeing the bruises and cuts on the woman's face were standing out in stark contrast to her pale skin.

"Be that as it may, I just took a pill, waiting for it to kick in," Skye said. "Other than that I'm fine. Listen, I'm getting hungry, don't know how that worked out, but I'd like to order something and just sleep until tomorrow morn-"

"You might have to wait," Beckett said when there was a knock on the door in Skye's room. She wasn't surprised when the woman stepped aside, and she hurried to the door, looking out before she stepped back, motioning for the investigator to open it.

"Oh god Skye!" Helen said as she threw herself at her friend, hugging her tightly. "Sorry, sorry, I forgot you were hurt," she said quickly when Skye groaned slightly in pain. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, I was insanely lucky," Skye responded, nodding to Castle and Beckett who were walking back to their room.

"Wait, I have to say thank you for what you did," Helen said. "I don't know if you realize but if we had lost Skye…"

"I think they've heard that enough times," Skye said, looking embarrassed. "I'm okay though, you didn't need to come."

"We'll be in the other room," Beckett said quickly.

"No, wait," Helen said quickly. "A couple of your friends from your time here want to take you out to dinner. I assume that's alright?" she directed the last to Beckett.

"Sure," she said quickly. "Where are you headed to?"

"Sequoia," Helen said, looking at Skye as she spoke.

"Is it alright if they tag along?" the investigator said, smiling as she nodded to Castle.

"That's fine, they'd probably want to meet them too," Helen said. "We're heading out now, so I'll wait for you to get ready."

"Are you going to be okay going like that?" Beckett asked as she noticed Skye hesitating slightly and looked at the towel pressed to her jaw.

"Sure, why not? I'm not in DC too often, so I better take the chance," she replied. "Helen? Has it been on the news?"

"They'll know," the Chairman said. "And the people at the restaurant," she quickly continued as Skye was about to speak again.

When the investigator finally nodded, Beckett headed back to hers and Castle's room to get her coat. As she turned, putting it on, she nearly ran into him and asked, "Problem?" as she could see he looked a little confused.

"Think it's okay for her to go to this dinner? The Chairman is her boss," Castle asked.

"If she's escorting Skye, I don't think it matters," Beckett said, waiting for him to put on his coat. "Besides, she's no longer investigating, so she's a civilian as she said before."

"You make a valid point, but aren't you and I going to stick out a little," Castle said. He was surprised when she merely walked to the doorway, after giving him a knowing look. He thought about that expression for a moment, but then shook his head as he followed her.

* * *

Looking up as Castle walked into the room, Beckett set down her tablet and asked, "How's she doing?"

"Pretty good, she actually heard about what happened with Skye, and us," Castle replied, sitting down on the edge of her side of the bed. "I had to assure her that I was fine, I had a gun, and I shot the bad guy." He saw the look on Beckett's face at that and quickly said, "We shot the bad guy." He was relieved when Beckett looked mollified at that, and then said, "She did tell me her plans for this weekend."

"Another possible place to go?" Beckett asked.

"She's heading to a redwood forest outside the city, that would be interesting to take Julia to see," Castle said, trying to tempt her with the idea.

"Everything is," Beckett said with a smile. "But we'll try and fit that in. Again Castle; we don't have that much time to go around. I hate to see how you're going to be after the trip."

"I'll have to look forward to something else," Castle said. He was quiet then as he thought and said, "I'll worry about that later. So, you're not going to sleep yet?"

"I didn't think it looked like I was ready," Beckett said, getting off the bed around him. "Why, did you want to go out?"

"No, was pretty busy today," Castle said. "Listen do you want to watch-"

"No, no more ACI," Beckett said, going out to the other room to start making some coffee. "I don't really want to see any more about plane crashes. I think I've had enough for now."

" _Seconds From Disaster_?" Castle suggested.

"What's that?" Beckett said suspiciously.

"About… incidents," Castle said, faltering slightly.

"Another time," Beckett told him. "I think I'd much rather look at this," she said, showing him the San Francisco book in her bag.

"How'd you get a hold of that?" Castle said, taking it.

"You left it at my place," Beckett said. "I was going to look at it on the flight down but ended up talking to Skye the whole time basically."

"It was interesting to see her with her colleagues earlier," Castle said as he took over when the coffee was done, pouring it out into two mugs. "And you were right about the NTSB pin; she still wore something that told the world she's an investigator."

"When can I collect on that bet we made?" Beckett asked him, a slight smirk turning up the corner of her mouth.

"I leave that up to you," Castle said, taking the mug out of her hand after she'd taken a sip. His coffee on the counter with hers, he wrapped his arm around her, pulling her against him. He kissed her gently at first, just in case she was going to protest, but when she didn't wait for too long to respond, he was deepening it, feeling her arms wrapping around him.

"So, I think you're beginning to hint to me now is fine," Beckett said as he moved to trail his lips down her neck. She held on tighter to him as he nuzzled her collarbone, and finally pulled away from her. "I'm going to agree," she said, taking his hand and pulling him to the bedroom.

Squeezing her hand, Castle closed the door and locked it though their door between the suites was closed and locked. When he had finished he looked at Beckett who had remained with him, pressed against his side. He leaned down and kissed her slowly, sensuously before they parted and she walked away from him. Breathing in deeply, he watched her before he strode over to her as she began to pull off her sweater.

"You'd like to do the honors?" Beckett asked as he pulled down the sides of the black fabric.

"Yes, but not yet," Castle said simply before he kissed her again. He kept that up for as long as they could both possibly take, then pulled away as slowly as he could. He kept her from kissing him again, and instead helped her onto the bed, laying her down in the middle.

"It's… you don't need to go slowly, or anything, that bet was just a joke," Beckett said, starting to feel a slight irritation as his hand slid over the curve of her breast, making her breathe a little harder for a quick second.

"I know, but, this could go either way," Castle said. "I'm leaving it up to you; I either take my time and enjoy this because it's been a while-"

"A couple days," Beckett pointed out quickly, rolling her eyes.

"A while," Castle said firmly. When she scoffed he then said, "Anyways, I can take my time and enjoy this, or I leave things up to you."

"That's it? No third option where we're both mutually leading things?" Beckett asked, sitting up then. She smiled when Castle hurriedly followed her, sitting in between her legs, knowing that things had already been decided. "I think we've settled on how this will go," she said.

"We did; but, think I can make a request?" Castle asked. When she nodded, he then whispered into Beckett's ear and then leaned back to watch her carefully slide her hands over his chest. Swallowing roughly, he finally allowed himself to reach for her sweater, drawing it up over her head as she complied and raised her arms.

Smiling every time Castle pulled away from her lips, Beckett watched as he finished undressing her, which had been his request. She then lay down and stretched her arms above her head as he began to unbutton his shirt. She watched him, glad that she hadn't had to say a word to get him to do that for her. As soon as he had finished with the rest of his clothes, she grabbed his wrist and tugged on it as she turned onto her side.

Getting the idea quickly, Castle lay on his side behind her, pulling her close before he ran his hands around the front of her body. The room still held the slight chill from that day, but her skin was warm, and he was shuddering every so often at the silky quality of it before he managed to work his way down. He slid his hand in between her legs, groaning slightly at the feel of her before he finally moved her left leg, enough for him to enter her. He hissed as he was doing that, as she had managed to take hold of him, and he remembered that mutual, unspoken desire to be even that time. He didn't mind it, but as soon as he was inside of her, he took her hand and held it; their fingers entwined; before they began to move with one another. Not a single word spoken between them, he found himself very careful of how fast he was going, feeling her easily matching him.

Wrapping her arm back around him, Beckett slid her fingers through his hair, feeling his breath increase on her collarbone. She let out a slight moan as he gently sucked at the junction of it and her neck, and his hand reached up to fondle her breasts. She wasn't too surprised when he stroked her body then, knowing he had likely stopped himself before when he'd been touching her. She looked down, watching his hand as it went over every inch it could. The result of his simple, but deliberate, caresses meant her body was quickly growing warm; burning in response in a short amount of time as he wouldn't stop. She reached down his body, moving her hand from his hair to his thigh, sliding it over his skin before clutching at it tightly, knowing he'd likely need a stronger touch to get his attention.

Mumbling her name into her ear, Castle moved to the lobe and carefully bit at it, feeling her tensing up. He had expected her reaction, holding onto her body as it bucked up a little, but he didn't want to start pushing her to a climax yet. So he stopped, and pulled away from her; being careful as she groaned in disappointment. He whispered an apology, trying to turn her onto her back. But she was quick and he found himself where he'd been trying to put her.

Watching as Castle seemed to be trying to recover from that, Beckett leaned down, pressing her lips against his. She felt him respond, so guessed that he was letting her continue. She straddled him then, and together they managed to get him back inside of her without ever breaking their kiss. But she ended it a few seconds later, pulling away and sitting up before placing her hands on his chest.

Grabbing hold of her waist, thinking she might change the rhythm they'd been moving at before, Castle grunted slightly at her first downward motion. The pace was soon the same as it'd been when he'd been laying behind her, and he relaxed a little as he followed her, still holding onto her tightly, though that time he was holding to the small of her back. He watched her closely, just wanting the chance to stare at her without her having a problem with it. He stroked her skin with both hands, feeling it tense under him before he moved his right hand, sliding up her side before he stopped.

Her breathing growing quicker as Castle gripped her side, just under her breast, Beckett grabbed his hand tightly. She set it on the side next to her chest, letting him go to see what he would do with the obvious permission she'd given him. She wasn't too surprised when he quickly cupped her breast, and she suddenly stopped moving.

Looking up at her, Castle seemed to sense what she was hinting at, and quickly sat up, putting his hands on her back again. That time he kept them up and pushed on it so he could kiss at her breasts, feeling her fingers in his hair while he did so. She almost instantly started to move again, and he joined her before pulling back. His hand on the back of her neck, he kissed her hard once she was close enough. He wasn't too surprised when she slipped her tongue into his mouth, and they were soon fighting over that as he pressed her back into her mouth. When they had to stop and pulled apart, he nibbled at her lower lip before bowing his head again.

Sucking in a quick gasp, Beckett stroked at Castle's hair as he proceeded to suckle at first her right breast, then the left. She was beginning to falter in her rhythm, but as he grabbed the small of her back, she took the help he offered, moving with him again. She was ready to let herself go and find her pleasure as he moved around her neck next, but he suddenly pulled away from her, grabbing her tightly around to turn her onto her back before she could react.

Leaning his face close to hers, Castle kissed her as she wrapped her arm around him, and he could feel her nails lightly digging into his shoulders. He took her then and decided they'd delayed things long enough, bringing them right over the edge, though it still took some time as they tempered their pace. It didn't matter though, time or degree of thrusts, as she pulled away from the kiss they'd been in then, he got a brief glimpse of her face, leaning back hard on the bed. That was all he got though, what seemed like a short time later; he wasn't sure; he followed her and forgot about everything else.

Panting heavily once she had come back to herself, Beckett glanced to her right, and nudged Castle, who grunted slightly in response. "The window's open," she whispered to him.

"It is?" Castle asked, looking up. "Oh, you didn't say anything."

"Maybe I didn't want to," Beckett said, getting up as he did. She smiled as he tensed up slightly, and she grabbed some clothes to get dressed.

"Do you have to?" Castle asked when he turned and saw her pulling on her old t-shirt.

"I'd like to get up, pack what little there is we have, and go," Beckett said simply while she slipped into bed, watching him.

"I don't blame you," Castle said, joining her when he'd dressed. "Too bad we couldn't go out and sightsee."

"We went to a nice restaurant," Beckett said. "Which I was surprised about."

"Me too, but if we ever come back here, we'll need to go there on our own," Castle said. He lay on his side as she did the same and then said, "Weren't we supposed to look at the book?"

"We'll have enough time," Beckett said, shrugging. "Besides, I think what we did instead was a little more fun than that."

"That's a great point," Castle said. He kissed her then, lightly, since he knew she wanted to get to sleep. When he pulled away he looked into her eyes; just barely seeing them as she had turned off the lights. But he kept his lips close to hers before whispering, "Goodnight."

Parting her lips slightly, Beckett took his next kiss easily, though by the time they parted she was slightly frustrated and said, her voice a little distorted, "Tomorrow."

"Tomorrow," Castle said, knowing he'd made his point. He kissed her yet again, but that time it was a firm kiss, so when they pulled apart he could wrap his arms around her tightly. He held her closely without feeling the slight desire that had been rising in him yet again, and hoped she had calmed down enough as well so they could get to the next day and finally return home.


	14. To All Extremes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a phrase in Welsh here, which means safe journey.
> 
> The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song Faster by George Harrison, from his album George Harrison.

"Are we ready to head through security?" Beckett asked, looking at her watch as Skye walked over to where she and Castle were waiting in Concourse B of Dulles.

"Not yet," Skye said, looking past her.

Turning, Castle and Beckett saw that Peter King was running towards them, waving his arm. They watched as Skye hurried to the man, and hugged him tightly.

"I'm so sorry that I couldn't see you yesterday, or go to dinner," Peter was saying as the two approached the NTSB Investigators.

"I heard you got delayed with the reports," Skye said in understanding. "So it's okay, at least you made it to say goodbye."

"I almost didn't," Peter said quickly. "But before you need to head to your gate, thank you so much Detective Beckett, Mr. Castle, for everything, and for sticking to your assignment as well as you did."

"It wasn't a problem," Beckett said simply.

"And it was actually pretty interesting," Castle said, sensing Beckett glancing at him.

"Alright, go back, since I'm guessing you're still having troubles with the final report?" Skye said, patting Peter's shoulder.

"Yeah, I was able to duck out by promising I'd come back right away," the man said. "Take care of yourself Skye."

"Come in the summer," she urged her colleague. "We'd love to have you and Mai over."

"We'll consider it. Detective, Mr. Castle, safe journey. _Taith ddiogel_ Skye," Peter said before he gave her a last hug and then left, walking quickly out of the airport.

"Welsh?" Castle asked as they walked towards the security line.

"It was," Skye said simply. She glanced at Beckett, who was looking at her questioningly, and shook her head before handing her ID to the TSA worker.

Watching the investigator, Beckett wanted to mention something to Castle about how she had noticed the woman was acting a little strange since they'd left the hotel fifteen minutes before. But they had to go through the metal detectors before she could talk to him, and after they had to find their gate. It wasn't until they'd left Skye at the chairs in front of the window by the plane that she was able to bring the subject up with him.

"Well, she's just coming off nearly being killed," Castle said in answer to her question; though he sounded doubtful. "But you're right, I noticed it too, she's acting really different. And she looked exhausted, but that might be her injuries."

"Possibly," Beckett said. "And she could be homesick; she's been that way since we met her."

"Since she got here," Castle said. He took a sip of his coffee as she nodded and then said, "You're going to need to sit next to her?"

"No, she requested that she sit on her own," Beckett said. When Castle looked at her questioningly she shrugged and said, "I don't know why."

"Okay, well, at least you can keep an eye on me during the flight," he said as they left the coffee shop.

"If you say what's that once, our agreement about today is not going to happen," Beckett said.

"Understood," Castle said. He was going to say more when he looked ahead of them and noticed Skye. Looking at Beckett, he walked over to the woman ahead of her, and said carefully, "Skye?"

"Hmm?" the investigator asked, turning around suddenly.

"Here's your drink," Castle said. "How does it, she, look?"

"Alright, just, thinking about my flight back to LA," Skye said with a brief smile. She turned back to the British Airways 747 and took a sip of her drink, looking over at Castle in surprise. "Oh, Peter told you," she said.

"Yeah, he said your daughters ask you to do that," Castle said, making it a tentative question.

Smiling for a moment as she walked away from the window Skye said, "A tradition they insist on because we drink a small glass of chocolate milk with the girls after dinner. They want me to do the same before a flight. Why, I don't know."

Beckett had a feeling that that wasn't the whole truth, but didn't want to push the woman for the answer. Instead she sat in the chair next to her and asked, "How did we get this flight?"

"Your BA connection?" Castle asked, looking at his ticket then. "I'm guessing because we have first class seats," he said, showing it to Beckett.

"They heard what happened yesterday, I suppose they wanted to give us a comfortable ride," Skye said. "For the forty odd minutes we'll be in the air."

"On a 747?" Beckett then asked, nodding to the window.

"It'll fly from there to LAX," Skye answered. "A new route they're trying out. So it'll be a calm flight."

"Think you can hook us up with some free champagne, or no?" Castle started to ask before he saw the look Beckett was giving him.

"I believe you could afford it, and you'd likely be drinking it on your own," Skye said, smiling quickly again.

"Are you alright?" Beckett said, looking at her. "Injuries?"

"I'm fine," Skye said a little firmly since it wasn't the first time they'd asked her that that day. "Just… tired."

"Hard to sleep with your head on the pillow?" Castle said.

"Pretty much," Skye said with a shrug. "You guys?"

"Fine," Beckett said quickly, not wanting him to make a remark in response. She was about to speak again when the investigator interrupted her.

"Did you take a picture?" Skye asked, nodding to the plane.

"For my daughter?" Beckett asked. "No, excuse me," she said, though she hesitated for a moment before going to the window. She felt someone walking up behind her as she got her camera ready and said quickly, "Something's definitely up."

"I know, you could always try and get it out of her," Castle said. "Woman to woman."

"I don't think it's something like that that's bothering her," Beckett said, looking up at him from her phone where she was writing a text for Julia. "Why don't you talk to her? You tend to have a better chance of getting her to talk."

"Not always," Castle said. "What about you?" When Beckett only shook her head, her gaze down on her phone, he then said, "What if we tag teamed and then talked to her."

"Doesn't make much sense," a voice said next to them. Skye raised her eyebrow when Castle and Beckett jerked slightly in response, looking at her, and then said, "I'm fine, just anxious to get home alright? May we leave it at that?"

"Sure," Castle said quickly when his fiancée looked at him.

Beckett was going to echo him then, but an announcement for first class boarding interrupted her, and she followed Skye over to the door. "I'll need to do a quick search," she told the investigator.

"I expected that," Skye said with a nod. "Make it as quick as possible," she said after speaking to the British Airways employees checking the boarding passes. "They want to get us out on time of course," she said as the three of them walked on the jetway.

"Of course," Beckett said. "I need you to go with me," she told Castle as they neared the door.

"And me?" Skye asked.

"Stay here," Beckett said as the flight attendant took their tickets. She quickly spoke with the three that were there, and then was allowed with Castle into the cabin. "Walk with me down that aisle," she directed him. "We'll go quickly, checking side to side otherwise I'll delay the flight doing it on my own."

"Got it," Castle said. He walked with her in the second aisle of the cabin, both of them looking back and forth until they had reached the end. "This is a long plane," he told her as they went back.

"I know, luckily upstairs is a lot shorter," Beckett said.

"Can I-" Skye began when they had reached her.

"You can stay at the bottom of the stairs," Beckett interrupted her. "But stay down until I say it's clear." When the investigator only nodded, she hesitated a moment, but finally went to the spiral staircase connecting the two levels of the plane. There she walked down the aisle until she reached the cockpit, the three men of the flight crew looking back at her in obvious confusion. "Okay Castle, tell her she can come up," she called back to him.

"Who are you?" the man who she recognized as the pilot from the four stripes on his shoulders asked.

"I'm checking the plane for anyone or anything suspicious," Beckett said simply, deciding to wait for Skye.

"Rose?" the pilot said, looking over her shoulder then.

"George," Skye said with a wide smile. "I didn't know you were taking this route," she told the man as she hugged him tightly when she reached him.

"Only for six months," the pilot said. "And then I retire, going to set roots down in Sussex and finally spend more time with the grandkids."

"Sounds great," Skye said. "I'm sorry about this, but you might have heard that my life was being threatened. This is the detective assigned to protect me."

"I did hear, but I thought Brooks' boy died yesterday," the man said, nodding to Beckett.

"He did, but Senator Pittman wants me to be protected until we get back to NYC," Skye said. "Beckett, Castle, this is George Burgh, he flew with my father for about four years and has been a friend for a long, long time. He used to fly the London, Madrid, Prague route."

"Nice to meet you," Beckett said, shaking the man's hand. "I took a quick look over your plane before we came up here. She's impressive."

"That she is, if you'll excuse me though, I should get back to the pre-flight check," Burgh said. "Skye, wonderful to see you."

"It was great George, we need to have drinks back in LAX, just give me a call next time I'm home," Skye said. She watched him return to the cockpit and then shook her head saying, "I should have known you'd be on this one Phin," with a slight smirk as the co-pilot walked up to her.

Looking on, Castle glanced at Beckett as Skye and the co-pilot began speaking in a more guttural language. But they were both smiling before hugging briefly once, so he said, "How many languages does that make?" to Beckett.

"I lost count after you asked how many she knows last night," she replied. "We should leave them and get our seats," she said as she saw a passenger coming up the stairs. Going to the two rows where they would be seated, Beckett glanced over at Skye, a little startled to see that the woman had become grim, and the co-pilot looked the same, their glances darting to the passengers before they both immediately cheered up and he finally nodded and then left, going to join the pilot and flight engineer. "Everything okay?" she asked as Skye reached them.

"It's fine, just talking about my investigation and yours as well," the investigator said. "Oh, no need to sit with me Beckett," she said when she saw her about to sit; Castle in the next row. "Honestly, I told you already I'll be alright, and should anything happen, I'll take full responsibility."

Though she didn't like the idea still, Beckett knew that Skye was right, there was little chance there was any threat to her life, so she stepped back to Castle. "Window seat?" she asked.

"Sure, but when we fly to San Francisco I'm getting the window," Castle said.

"No you're not," Beckett said.

"No I'm not," Castle agreed. "But I had to try. What were you speaking?" he directed to Skye.

"Scottish," she said simply before sitting down and buckling her seatbelt tightly.

"Should have known," Castle said before he sat down. He looked at Beckett and saw she was reading through the safety information pamphlet. "Again?" he asked.

"It's a different plane," Beckett said simply, having remembered doing the same thing on the flight down to the capital. "Do you ever look at these?"

"I usually just watch the safety demonstration," Castle said slowly as a flight attendant walked past them and stopped next to Skye. He winced when Beckett nudged him hard with her elbow and said quickly, "Not because of that."

"Sure," she said simply though she was watching Skye talking with the woman.

"She's a friend," the investigator said, looking over at Beckett. "Old friend."

Nodding, Beckett relaxed then and placed the pamphlet in the pouch in front of her, leaning back as first class quickly filled up with other passengers. She glanced at Castle as he looked out of the window past her and then turned her attention to Skye, seeing the woman was sitting back against her chair, perfectly still, and she had to wonder what was going through her mind as they reached the time of departure for the flight, and the plane was pushed back from the gate.

Watching Beckett after the plane had taken off; Castle put his hand on her arm and said, "Sure you couldn't push your way into the seat next to her?"

"It's not that," Beckett said quickly. "Just… something's bothering me because I can feel the tension coming off her in waves."

"Me too, but relax," Castle said. "We'll be home and you'll get to see Julia."

Glancing at him, Beckett then said, "I'm sorry you won't be able to see Alexis."

"We're almost into February, so we'll get to Spring Break soon enough," Castle said, shrugging. "And it'll be nice to get to see Julia too, don't get me wrong."

Beckett smiled at that and said, "I'm glad to hear that."

"Yeah, I was thinking, the Saturday the week after Valentine's Day, if you want to go out or, whatever, I can take Julia for you," Castle said.

"What's going on that you're offering?" Beckett asked.

"Nothing actually, I was thinking of making her dinner, maybe for my mom too, and we'll just watch movies, whatever she wants," Castle said with a shrug.

"Well, not that weekend, maybe later on in the month or the beginning of March," Beckett said watching as another passenger walked past Skye down the aisle, relaxing when the man returned to his seat further ahead. "I'd like that weekend with both of you. But another weekend if you do watch a movie with her, please don't watch anything I haven't vetted."

"I'm not going to watch the _Anthology_ with her," Castle said. He turned to the flight attendant who walked down the aisle to them and got a ginger ale for Beckett and also himself.

"No coffee?" Beckett asked.

"Not this time. No, I was thinking, a marathon of Disney cartoons," Castle said, going back to their conversation when they had their drinks.

"Why not let her decide on the movies like you said before," Beckett suggested.

"Better idea," Castle agreed. "About this weekend, I think it would be fun, and different, if we headed out to the children's museum."

Beckett had to smile at that, and prepared herself for what had become a relatively normal conversation between then as they tried to plan their weekends together with her daughter. "Fine, but there's one thing we need to do tomorrow," she said in response. "And it's up to you if you want to join us."

"Deal," Castle said. When Beckett looked at him he said, "No, I'm serious. Whatever it is. So our Sunday is set."

"It is," Beckett said, rolling her eyes as he tended to do that when he felt the conversation was going to go on for too long. She glanced at Skye then, seeing it looked like the investigator was asleep. "Don't tell me to relax by the way," she said to him as she settled back against her seat.

"Trying to help," Castle said, by then looking at the SkyMall magazine.

Shaking her head slightly, Beckett checked her watch, sighing under her breath as she saw they still had more than a half hour left; the conversation having felt it'd taken much longer. She sipped her drink as she looked over Castle's arm at the magazine, trying to pass the time as she remained alert, glancing every once in a while at the investigator in the row ahead of them, still uneasy with the woman's demeanor.

* * *

"Ten minutes," Castle said, looking at his watch.

"I'm aware of that," Beckett said as he leaned over her to look out the window. "The plane won't go any faster."

"Maybe if Skye flew?" Castle said.

"It's a commercial jet, not a fighter plane," Skye said, looking back at them as she'd heard him.

"You don't know any tricks?" Castle asked relieved that she had finally moved more than just her arms for the past half hour.

"I know how to go into lightspeed," Skye said.

"Oh, funny," Castle said as he glanced at Beckett and could see that she was holding back her laughter.

"Any reason you want to get off the plane?" Skye asked.

"Watching too many episodes of that show," Beckett said simply.

"Not that," Castle said. "Just wondering how good of a flyer you are. And as for wanting to get back home," he shrugged then. "Who doesn't want to see the end of the flight?"

Beckett looked over at Skye, not surprised as the woman looked at her and rolled her eyes before she sat back in her chair, and then saw the door to the cockpit open. She was a little surprised to see the pilot walking out, and she leaned over, trying to get the investigator's attention.

"There's a co-pilot," Castle said, looking at Beckett.

"I know," Beckett said simply as the pilot began to walk back, talking to the rest of the flight crew in the doorway.

All of a sudden, a loud, grating noise filled the first class section; though by the echoing it sounded as if it were coming from the back of the plane; and Skye sat up, looking back at Castle and Beckett who were both surprised to see that her eyes were wide in what looked to be alarm. Before anyone could say a word, the sound suddenly became an explosion, and the entire aircraft rocked violently down.


	15. On The Edge Of Do Or Die

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a phrase in Russian here, and yet again, forgot to save what I was intending to say in English, but I think what I was trying to say was- you need to take a look at this, I think the damage is worse than you thought- or something close to that.
> 
> The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song Faster by George Harrison, from his album George Harrison.

Flying back into his seat, it took Castle a while to recover from what had just happened. It didn't help that the plane was suddenly ascending once he had, and he looked up at Skye's cry.

"George!" the investigator yelled when she saw the pilot. Unbuckling her seat belt, she ran to where he was laying at the doorway to the cockpit, holding on tightly to the seats she passed to make it. She immediately took off her blazer, pressing it to the wound on his head that was bleeding profusely. "Stay there and put on the masks," she yelled as she noticed Castle and Beckett starting to get out of their seats. "Is anyone a doctor?" she said then, looking at the other passengers.

"Here," the flight attendant Skye had spoken to earlier said, putting an oxygen mask to her face as a man ran down the aisle saying he was a doctor.

"Are you okay?" Castle asked Beckett as they were putting the yellow masks on that had dropped down from the ceiling.

A little shocked at what had just happened, Beckett nodded slightly and looked over at Skye as she could taste the pure oxygen going into her lungs. The woman was helping the doctor strap down the pilot to the door that Burgh had been holding when the explosion had occurred and had ripped off with the force of it, the man completely unconscious. When the co-pilot yelled for Skye; the plane began to suddenly descend.

Watching as Skye ran into the cockpit, Castle looked over at the pilot again, three belts holding him in place. He looked behind their row, hearing the screams of some of the women and wondered if anyone was going to help people who were injured. "What about-" he started to say.

"The people in the back," Beckett said with him at the same time. "There's not much we can do," she said, suddenly being hit with the realization that they were helpless and unless Skye could help out the co-pilot, they would not make it.

"She's a great pilot," Castle said, taking her hand tightly as he'd had the same thought. But even as he spoke, the plane's engines began to accelerate, and they were ascending as they both sat up a little to look inside the cockpit.

After she had taken the pilot's seat, Skye had thrown on the mask above, setting the headphones on her ears and leaning over to the throttles. "My plane?" she asked Phin.

"Your plane," the co-pilot said, realizing what she was going to do. "Control?"

"I'll take it, Donald?" Skye said, turning to the flight engineer as she pulled back on the throttles.

"All hydraulics are at zero," the engineer said, looking from his control panel.

Skye nodded and then turned on the headset saying, "Mayday, mayday, mayday, this is Speedbird 139, we are declaring an emergency. Explosive decompression event and we have no hydraulics."

Looking at Castle as they could hear what was going on in the cockpit with no door, Beckett listened on as Skye continued to talk with the JFK tower.

"The pilot has been injured and is unconscious; I've taken over Kelly, trying to work the throttles to even us out. We need to descend as quickly as possible to level-" Skye began to say before a woman behind Castle and Becket began to scream and cut her off.

"Ma'am, please calm down," the flight attendant helping the doctor with the pilot said.

"We're going to crash, we're going to die!" the woman; who appeared to be alone shrieked. "We have no pilot."

All of a sudden, as the plane leveled out there was the audible click of the intercom system and the co-pilot began to speak, "Ladies and gentlemen we've had an incident with the airplane, but we have a certified pilot and NTSB investigator helping us out here in the cockpit. We will do our best to get us down as soon as possible. Please remain in your seats with your seat belt securely fastened. We're going to try and get us down to a level with breathable air. Until then, please leave your masks on. If you are injured, notify a flight attendant who will do their best to assist you. I will return with any updates as is necessary."

"Alright, we're clear," Skye then said once Phin had finished. "And I need runway 13R."

"You don't want 4R?" Phin asked. "It's got the arrestor bed."

Castle looked into the cockpit as Skye didn't answer at first, seeing that she was busy working the throttles, and seemed to be having some trouble until the co-pilot helped her out. He looked at Beckett then when she grabbed his arm and said to her quickly, "She's got it."

"I know, I just wonder if she's going to be able to control it," Beckett said, looking at him from the flight deck. "The landing."

Nodding, as he knew she was right, Castle heard Skye call for their descent, and eventually could feel the plane slowly doing so.

"Okay, let's keep it here, I'll take control," Skye was saying as she and Phin were able to hold the plane steady at their flight level. "Tell them they can take off the masks."

As soon as she heard that, Beckett tore off her oxygen mask and followed Castle to the door of the cockpit.

"Get back to your seats," the flight engineer said when he saw them.

"No, we need them," Skye said quickly to them, turning around as Phin helped her with the throttles again. "I just heard from the head flight attendant down below, one of them was injured in the explosion and they need help moving people away from the hole in the fuselage. Go down there, help everyone move as close to the nose as possible. Are there babies on this flight?" she then yelled to the cabin.

"A few," the flight attendant with the doctor called back.

"Okay, tell the flight attendants down there I want children who have no seat to stay on their parent's lap, and just do whatever they need you to do down there," Skye said quickly. "Beckett," she then said before they could walk away. "I need you to take a picture of the damage with your phone."

Nodding, Beckett ran after Castle to the spiral staircase, grabbing his arm saying, "You don't need to do this," as they hurried down.

"I'll go crazy with you running around down here," he replied, shaking his head as he reached back and squeezed her arm. When they were off the stairs he hurried to the flight attendant that was injured and asked the others around him, "Anything you need us to do?" in case they had moving the passengers set.

"Just helping the wounded," the flight attendant said, at first looking as if she were going to protest. But she soon recognized them and remembered that Skye had told them about Beckett being with the NYPD. "And please try and calm them down if you can."

"We'll do our best," Beckett said before running down the aisle to the back as she pulled out her phone. When they neared the gaping holes in the ceiling, she felt Castle grab her before she got too close. She took a series of pictures, a little shocked that so much of the fuselage had been torn from the frame.

As soon as she had finished, Castle let go of her, and proceeded to help some of the injured people towards the front of the plane. With Beckett helping, he and all the other flight attendants got everyone as close to the front of the plane as they could and then headed back upstairs. "Where are you going?" he asked as she ran past their seats.

"She needs to see this," Beckett replied simply before going the rest of the way to the cockpit. "Skye, _vy dolzhny smotret' na eto, ya dumayu, chto ushcherb khuzhe, chem vy dumali_ ," she said, speaking in Russian to keep the other passengers she knew were listening from overhearing that.

Instructing Phin to hold the controls over her hands to keep her steady, Skye looked at Beckett's phone, and seemed to pale noticeably. "Okay, sit down; we're going to have to circle to get around to the runway. So it'll take us a few minutes. But we're getting her down," she told her firmly

Nodding, Beckett slipped her phone into her pocket as she ran back to Castle, starting to sit next to the window when he stopped her. "You-" she began to say, wondering for a moment if he actually wanted the window.

"Sit," Castle said quickly, doing so in the seat and putting on the belt as quickly as he could. Looking out the window, he could see that in the time he had Beckett had been helping the passengers on the lower deck they'd reached the city. He felt her pressing against him, and he looked at her as he got a sudden idea.

"What are you doing?" Beckett asked when he grabbed the SkyMall magazine in front of his seat, and pulled a pen from his pocket. "You're…" she started to say when he wrote down his daughter's name. She swallowed roughly in realization, and reached for the same magazine in front of her seat. She tried not to let her hand shake as she wrote Julia's name at the top, beginning to write a note to her daughter, telling her how much she loved her, and that she would always look out for her. Feeling a little sick as she tore the page away, she then used the space on the next one that had enough for what she needed to write to her father, telling him she loved him and imploring him to take care of his granddaughter and give Julia the love she herself would be unable to.

Folding the second note he'd written to his mother, Castle looked at Beckett, seeing that she was putting folded pieces of paper into her inner pocket of her jacket. He did the same with his papers, hoping that if anything happened to him they would be able to find that. It was then he felt the plane banking to the left, and Beckett's hand clutched at his arm tightly. Glancing up at her face, he could see the uncertainty in her expression and he took her hand tightly, not really sure if he could comfort her as he was feeling the same himself. Watching her, he suddenly realized there was a lot they still had to do, to say to each other, and he found himself facing the possibility of never getting the chance for all of that as he could tell they were slowly descending once they'd come out of their turn. "Kate-" he started to say when he was suddenly interrupted.

Watching as the flight attendants quickly spoke about what to do once Skye called out the brace command, Beckett clutched at Castle's hand, listening closely to everything. She looked over at the pilot, seeing the doctor and the flight attendant helping him had managed to make a makeshift table at the front row, putting Burgh there, still strapped to the door and strapped to the "table" as they sat in the row behind him. She wondered about what would happen to him, but her thoughts inevitably went to her daughter, as they'd been doing constantly since the explosion.

"What about her?" Castle asked suddenly as he looked out the window quickly and saw they were getting lower.

"Her family?" Beckett asked. When he nodded, she reached back into her pocket, and took out her pen before getting another piece of paper. She addressed that note to Skye's family, writing furiously about how Skye had been thinking of them ever since she'd left LA, and telling them at the end the investigator gave them her love and would miss them. She tucked the paper into her pocket, but on the other side of the jacket.

"We're getting close," Castle said, seeing they'd gone down further. He turned to Beckett and let go of her hand before cupping her face in his hands. He saw that she seemed to realize why he was doing that in the instant before he kissed her. He began it gently, being careful before the situation reminded him he might not have the chance to do that again. He kissed her harder, and could feel her responding to him eagerly until they finally had to breathe and pulled away from one another. "I love you Kate," he said then, his voice a little distorted as he thought again, there was so much still for them. That he had wanted a lot more time with her and that was dangling by a thread.

"I love you too Rick," Beckett whispered, fighting against tears that wanted to fall. She kissed him again, hoping, praying, that they would be given a chance. But she knew it was asking a lot; their lives had been at risk so many times before that she'd known one day they were going to run out of luck. And she knew that it was likely they'd reached that point. She touched her pendant as Castle did the same, a tear sliding down her cheek as she thought of Julia, growing up without her.

Squeezing Beckett's hand after he took it, Castle dared a look out the window, and suddenly noticed a helicopter flying below them as they tilted to the right.

Hearing the other passengers murmuring in distress at that, Beckett looked outside with Castle, seeing that they were passing the airport. "Too high," she said, not needing to but just wanting to say something.

"Yeah, those, those are news helicopters," Castle whispered to her suddenly.

Looking past him, Beckett soon saw that he was right and her gaze met his, knowing he was thinking the same. Were their families and friends watching their plane as it turned yet again for another try to land at JFK?

* * *

"Alexis?" a voice cut into the young woman's sleep. Opening her eyes, Alexis turned over and saw that it was Diana. "What is it?" she asked, trying to wake up as she saw her friend looked a little concerned.

"You said your dad was flying back to New York today?" Diana said.

"Yeah, they were leaving at… ten I think," Alexis said, looking at the clock on the nightstand next to her bed. "They should be almost there by now. Why?" she then said in alarm as she realized something had to be wrong.

"What was the airline?" Diana asked, seeming to sound a little hesitant.

"British Airways," Alexis said. "Diana, what's wrong?"

"I, I think…" the young woman started to say before she shook her head and took Alexis' wrist, pulling her to the door.

Trying to keep up with her friend, Alexis was a little surprised when Diana took her to the kitchen where her parents were standing in front of a small TV hanging from under the cabinets. She saw their worried expressions, and then looked at the screen, seeing it was on a news station, and there was a British Airways 747 on it, gashes in the metal of the two small wings on either side of the tail. The headline ' _Damaged BA 747 circling JFK_ ' caught her attention and she asked, "What's the flight number?"

"139," Diana's mother said.

"I need to call my gram," Alexis said, starting to sound a little frantic as she didn't know the number of her father's flight and as the phone rang, she hoped that the flight was another set of numbers.

* * *

"Come in Julia," Martha said as she opened the door to the little girl and her grandfather. "They should be landing very soon, so everything is ready."

"Did you get a call from Castle?" Jim asked as he helped Julia take off her coat.

"A quick text message when they got to the airport," Martha said. "And he told me the flight number. He assumed I would be tracking it with this web site he found not too long ago, but, I was more concerned with getting lunch for them ready as I'm sure they'll be starving."

"Go ahead and play Julia," Jim said as he saw she was hopping back and forth on her feet. When the little girl had gone to the couch with her Stitch doll, he followed and gave her the coloring book she'd had while staying with him, and once he had her set coloring he was about to get something to drink when Martha's phone started to ring. "They're a little early," he said, walking over to her.

"It's not them," Martha said. "It's Alexis, but it's early for her; she wasn't planning on calling here until 10 her time so she could talk to her father as well," she said as she looked at the screen. "Alexis?" she answered, putting the phone on speaker.

"Gram! Gram, what's the number of Dad's flight?" the young woman asked in a rush.

"139," Jim said when Martha looked at him.

"Gram, let me talk to you privately," Alexis said, recognizing Beckett's dad's voice.

Watching Martha listening to Alexis on the other end of the phone, Jim wondered whatever the young woman had to say that she didn't want Julia to hear. "What is it?" he asked as soon as Martha had hung up.

"She… it's on TV," she replied, looking a little bemused. "We need to make sure Julia's occupied," she then told him as she hurried to Castle's office.

"Julia," Jim said to his granddaughter. "Can you stay here and finish coloring?"

"Is Mommy back?" Julia asked eagerly.

"Not yet, but why don't you try and finish that picture and give it to her when she gets here okay?" Jim said quickly.

"Kay," Julia said. She looked down at her coloring book and picked up a blue crayon before sweeping it over the page.

Walking inside the office, Jim saw Martha had turned on the TV, and on the station was a British Airways jet. "It's…" he began before he saw the number on the screen of the flight. "It's them, what happened?"

"I don't know, it just says it's trying to make an emergency landing," Martha said before putting the volume on.

"… and sources at JFK have confirmed that the pilot, a George Burgh has been injured and is unable to fly. These same sources have related an NTSB Investigator on this flight, a Rose McDouglas, is helping the remaining flight crew bring the plane down to JFK. She has fifteen years experience with flying and is a certified pilot," the news anchor was saying. "They have made a u-turn and are coming back to line up with the runway. We go to Dylan Adams, aviation expert for his opinion."

"Is this investigator really a good pilot?" Jim said, feeling a little horrified as he saw the obvious damage to the plane and it's going up and down, knowing his daughter was there.

"I don't know, they never really mentioned anything besides the fact she can fly, more that she was a good investigator," Martha said. She looked back at Julia and then said, "Should we call the Precinct? Richard mentioned Kate was still on that assignment."

"They know," Jim said as both their phones suddenly rang and he could see on the screen of her phone that it was Ryan.

* * *

"Just got the paperwork out to the FBI Regional Office, so we are set with this case," Esposito said, sitting at his desk. "How about we head to The Old Haunt later? Ask Castle to join us."

"Might be tired from the flight," Ryan said.

"A forty minute flight, come on bro," Esposito said. "Or do you know already he's got some plans with a new girlfriend?"

"I don't follow his love life," Ryan said wryly. "But he might, you never know with him these days."

Esposito was about to reply to that when Gates came out of her office, calling his and Ryan's names. "Yes sir?" he asked as she walked up to them. He grew somber when he saw the expression on her face and said, "We're finished with the case."

"Is anything wrong sir?" Ryan asked before she could speak, standing up from his chair.

"What's the number of the flight Beckett and Castle are on?" Gates asked.

"It's… that one," Ryan began to answer before he noticed the TV and saw the airplane on it. "What happened?"

"Inspector King from the NTSB just called me, let me know that the aircraft had an… explosion of some sort," Gates said as they watched the plane banking to the right. "And they lost all hydraulics; apparently Investigator McDouglas is flying the plane."

"Why?" Esposito asked.

"The pilot was injured, and she knows how to fly that type of jet," Gates said. "Call Beckett's father and Castle's mother, see if they're aware of what's going on and if they don't, let them know and tell them about the investigator's flying experience."

"Right sir," Ryan said, going to his desk as Esposito went to his, neither of them taking their eyes from the TV as the 747 descended further as it began to tilt upwards.

* * *

"Easy, we're going to stall, get her down," Castle and Beckett could hear Skye saying, her voice tense.

"Two thousand Skye," Phin told her as he helped her get the plane's nose down. "Should we start?"

"Yes, we need to slow down, we're going too fast," Skye said. "I want the nose up at- JFK this is Speedbird 139, repeat your message."

Holding on to Beckett's hand again, Castle looked at her as the investigator called for the landing gears to be brought down. His attention went to the flight engineer, who went down to the floor, and opened a panel before they heard the loud thunk and metallic grind of what he assumed were the landing gears falling down. "They'll disrupt the air flow," he said to Beckett; not really needing to say it, but wanting to break up the tense silence in first class.

Listening to Skye telling the two men what to do as they neared the runway, Beckett looked out the window, and saw they were lower than they had been the first time near JFK. Looking at Castle, she entwined their fingers together when suddenly the investigator's voice came over the intercom calling, "Flight attendants brace! Brace positions!"

"Brace, brace, brace!" the flight attendant in the front row called.

Ducking her head down, Beckett could feel her hands were shaking, and she cursed herself for her weakness in that moment, but knew it was because the situation was well out of her control. "Castle," she whispered.

"One hundred feet," the flight engineer called in the cockpit.

"If something happens to me, you need to take care-" Beckett began to say.

"We're going to make it out of this Kate," Castle almost snapped, trying not to let his fear that he was wrong edge into his tone. "You'll see Julia again, before the day's over you'll see her and your dad."

Reaching over, Beckett squeezed Castle's hand on the back of the chair in front of him, and wished she could kiss him one last time, but she heard the next announcement from the flight engineer, and knew there was no time.

"Thirty feet."

Breathing in, Castle squeezed back before letting go of Beckett's hand, imagining the runway getting closer and closer.

"Twenty feet."

Beckett could feel her heart racing, her thoughts on her daughter, her father, Castle and everyone else she cared about. She closed her eyes tightly on the next count, seeing her daughter in her mind and praying that she would hold her again.

"Ten feet."

Castle's heart began to pound and his throat became dry. He cursed himself in his mind for not telling Beckett while he'd had the chance how much she meant to him, what she meant to him. How he had wanted to chance to take their relationship further, but it was too late.

"Zero!"

The flight engineer's yell preceded the jolt of the plane hitting the runway a second before the rear tires touched down. "Slow down, come on girl… steady, work the first and second throttles with me Phin!" Skye was yelling.

The instant the front landing gear hit the ground, there was a loud snapping noise, and the entire plane tilted forward, the heat from the undercarriage scraping against the tarmac coming through even to first class. But Beckett and Castle and most of the other passengers didn't feel it, the first touch on the runway knocking many unconscious. The plane began to turn sideways, and it went over the ground, knocking out the lights before the section of the front landing gear left in place dug into the ground and stopped the 747 with a last jerk that made every last person on the plane jerk forward until rocking back in their seats, everything going silent after as the aircraft was finally still.

* * *

Her eyes glued to the TV, Alexis closed them as soon as the plane hit the runway, but that couldn't stop her from hearing Diana's mother cry out slightly. She felt her friend grab her tightly, and she opened her eyes to see the airplane sliding off the runway down on its nose. The two engines on the side were gone, and she stepped forward saying, "Oh god, Dad, get out of there!" her heart sinking as she had no idea where he was sitting.

Feeling a little panicked, she grabbed her phone, and called her grandmother, wanting to see what she could find out. "Gram," she said quickly as the phone was picked up on the other end.

"This is Jim Beckett, Alexis," the man said on the other end. "We've seen it; we're trying to find out all we can right now. We'll get a hold of you as soon as we know anything."

"You need to give them some time to evacuate," Diana's father said gently when Alexis had hung up.

"I know but… I could hear Julia in the background, I think she saw the crash," Alexis said, sounding horrified.

* * *

"I don't think I can look," Martha said, closing her eyes and holding her hands clasped together to her lips.

"Don't," Jim said, almost forcing himself to watch the scene unfold. He tensed as the back tires met the ground, and then closed his eyes as the plane tilted to the right, ripping off the engines and igniting the wing. When he looked again, he heard Castle's mother let out a cry as the 747 tilted forward before jerking to a violent halt. He jumped in the air when he heard a scream behind him, and both he and Martha turned to see that Julia was standing in the doorway, her face pale and her mouth open in horror. "Julia," he said in desperation before Martha ran to his granddaughter as she began to cry. Her phone started to ring, so he answered it and after talking to Alexis quickly, rushed over to Julia.

"It's alright darling, please, look at me," Martha was saying as she was trying to get Julia to stop looking in the direction of the TV though she was standing in front of her.

"Oh no, the picture," Jim said, reaching them. "Katie texted a picture of…" he trailed off, nodding to the screen.

"I want Mommy," Julia said, closing her eyes tightly as her chin wobbled.

Looking at each other, Martha and Jim found they couldn't really answer that request. They tried comforting Julia as she began to cry loudly when their phones rang, and they saw it was Ryan and Esposito calling again.

* * *

"You really think she can land that," Ryan said as they were standing under the TV. By then word had gone through the Precinct, and there were other officers and detectives watching the scene unfolding.

"Gotta hope," Esposito said. "Hey, Kev, what about… Alexis and Julia?"

Shaking his head, Ryan didn't want to reply to that as they already knew the answer. He had to wonder what was going on at that moment between Castle and Beckett, but the white smoke of the rear tires hitting the runway distracted him from his thoughts.

There were a couple of loud intakes of breath as the plane rolled down, and the nose came down. There was a short cry from an aide as the landing gear broke off and the plane then skidded off the runway, murmurs of distress filling the room as the wing caught fire.

"They've gotta make it out, the plane's in one piece," Esposito said as he looked back and forth across the screen, trying to ignore the fire that was on the right side of the plane; the camera on that side of the aircraft. "Open the doors!" he yelled.

"Detective Esposito," Gates said, turning around. "I want you to contact JFK, and after you both get a hold of Beckett's father and Castle's mother, they're going to need help finding out what happened to their kids."

"Got it sir," Ryan said, grabbing his partner's arm and dragging him to their desks. Even as they were on the phone though, both he and Esposito kept looking back to the TV screen, waiting to see it being evacuated.

* * *

There were a few seconds when Beckett honestly thought she had not survived. She was surrounded by nothing but black, and then had to wonder if she would be aware of that. Finally, she could smell something acrid, and with a gasp, her eyes flew open. Looking around, she saw that everyone seemed to be in their seats, but a little stunned or unconscious. She couldn't remember passing out herself, only the rough landing before she had woken up. It was then she remembered Castle, and she turned to him, shocked to see him slumped over.

"Castle?" Beckett whispered, touching his shoulder. "Oh no, Castle?" she said in a slight moment of panic as there was no movement from him. Her hand scrambled to find his pulse which she was luckily able to do, and she breathed out heavily as she felt it steady underneath her fingertips. She ran her hand over his cheek before she tried to wake him up.

Groaning heavily as he straightened up, Castle felt as if every part of his body was in some degree of pain. But he could feel it centered on his knee, and his forehead. "What… are we stopped?" he asked a little fuzzily as he reached up and felt blood against his fingertips.

"Yeah, come on, we need to get out of here," Beckett said, by then the flight attendants starting to usher the passengers out as they opened the door on the left side. She stood and helped him up, almost falling with him to the ground when he collapsed. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"Sir, we need your help," the doctor said, coughing heavily as thick smoke was beginning to enter the cabin. "I need you to help me get the pilot off the plane we can't take him off that door."

Before either of them could say a word to that, Beckett felt someone grabbing her arm and pulling her to the door. She tried to pull away, but the flight attendant ushered her to the exit. "No, wait," she said, turning back to see Castle was joining the doctor and four other men around the pilot. She looked over at the cockpit, and saw the flight engineer was helping the co-pilot limp out, behind them she saw the pilot's chair was laying on the floor, blood on the control panel in the center. "Skye?" she called to the two men. She started to try and run towards the cockpit when she heard a yell.

"Get off the plane Beckett," Skye commanded her as she was flipping switches with a shaking, blood stained hand. "I've gotta get this shut… down."

Hesitating, since she could hear the pain in the woman's voice, Beckett turned and called, "Castle!" as she was almost shoved to the exit. He didn't seem to hear her, and the passengers behind her were nearly pushing her out, so she turned forward, sucking in a clean breath of air though it was freezing. She jumped onto the emergency chute, and scrambled out of it so she wouldn't hold anyone else up.

Looking around, Beckett could see the other passengers coming out from the chutes on that side of the plane, the flames flicking up on the right side making it obviously unusable as an exit. She heard the sirens, so knew help was there and the fire would be out soon. But the smoke had been choking, and she knew there had to be only so long a person could survive in that before risking unconsciousness and worse. She looked up at the exit for the first class section, waiting for her fiancé to come out. But it wasn't until the section had emptied that she saw him, with the other five men as they struggled to get the pilot out as safely as possible.

Once Burgh was in the hands of emergency responders and was being carried away on the door to a stretcher, Castle jumped down the chute before climbing out. He was hit as soon as he stood on his good leg, and wrapped his arms around Beckett as she held onto him tightly.

"Are you okay?" Beckett asked as they took a few steps to get away from the slide and he slightly stumbled.

"I need to sit," Castle said, his teeth clenched together as he got down on the grass next to the runway. "Skye?"

"I don't know," Beckett said, clutching his hand in hers. She looked at the plane and the exit from the top level, waiting for the investigator to come out. But as time passed and the smoke seemed to thicken, she then ran over to the chute yelling up, "Skye!"

"Ma'am," an emergency worker called to her to try and get her away from the plane.

"Kate, she's there," Castle yelled as he looked at the chute on the second door on the lower level.

Running over to the slide, Beckett watched as the woman jumped down and then scrambled to pull herself off of it. "Wait, you're injured," she said, seeing the blood on the right half of the woman's face. But she was unable to keep her from running, Skye taking off towards the back of the plane.

"Is everyone off the plane? Did we lose anyone?" Skye yelled as she looked up the emergency chute at the end. She was gasping for air, breathing out the blood that was running down her face and over her lips. She looked around at the EMTs and firefighters helping the injured and walked back to the front of the plane.

"Skye, stop, you need to sit and wait for someone to help you," Beckett said, grabbing her arm but the woman tore it away from her. But Skye didn't say a word before she suddenly stopped and looked up at the plane. "Sit, you're bleeding pretty badly," she said.

Turning around to the people scrambling around the edge of the runway, Skye looked everyone over, as if trying to count and see if all the passengers were there.

Castle; watching her over the shoulder of the EMT worker who was looking at his injuries; saw Skye's eyes roll back in her head. He was about to call out a warning to Beckett, but before he could, she collapsed on the ground, his fiancée trying to break her fall and managing to stop her head from hitting the ground.

"We need help!" Beckett said, letting Skye's limp body down on the ground. She checked the woman for a pulse, relieved to feel it steady. She looked over at Castle then to see if he was still alright as a fire fighter ran over to her. "Is everyone off the plane?" she asked him.

"Don't know," the man said simply before starting to work on Skye. "Get some help for yourself ma'am, I'll get her to the hospital."

Standing up as another firefighter came over to help his colleague, Beckett stood and walked over to Castle, suddenly feeling the pain of a cut to her ear. She reached up to the lobe, and then up onto the curve of her ear, her fingers coming away sticky as was the rest of her hand. She went to Castle, and sat next to him saying, "She did it."

"Yeah, she did," he replied, not sure what else they could really say in that moment. "Okay?"

"I think so, you?" Beckett asked.

"Yeah," Castle said, reaching over to her and taking her hand tightly in his.

Nodding, Beckett looked at the airplane and closed her eyes as the relief from knowing their luck had held yet again rushed through her with the last of the adrenaline that had been going on since she'd woken up. She looked at Castle and saw the same relief in his eyes, aware that mentally they were saying a repeated thank you that that flight had not been their last.


	16. Learned To Get Up When I Fall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song This Guitar (Can't Keep From Falling) by George Harrison, from his album Extra Texture (Read All About It).

Leaning against the wall, Beckett was looking up at the ceiling, not really paying attention to the people walking by her. It wasn't until she heard someone calling her name that she glanced over to see a nurse entering the hall. "I'm Kate," she said, standing up straight and going over to the woman.

"Mr. Castle is asking for you," the nurse said simply. "Follow me." As they were walking she looked back and asked, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Beckett said shortly before they entered the room where Castle was sitting up on the bed inside. Once the nurse had closed the door after she'd gone in, she walked over to sit on the edge asking, "Are you okay?"

"I'm good, they x-rayed my knee, just in case I fractured it," Castle said, glancing down at the large ice pack covering it. "But I can't really feel anything."

"And this?" Beckett asked, brushing some of the hairs on his forehead out of the way of a cut that ended just before the hairline.

"Nothing really, bled like crazy but luckily not deep enough to need stitches," Castle said. "But you?"

"Bruises and some cuts," Beckett said. "But the worst was this," she said as she fingered the uncut part of her left ear, exposed since she'd pulled her hair back into a ponytail. "Is that why you had me sit on the aisle?"

"What?" Castle asked, having putting his hand on the side of her neck.

"You switched seats with me after we helped with the passengers," Beckett reminded him simply.

"It was," Castle admitted simply. "I heard somewhere that the safest seats are aisle seats. Also seats above the wings, but since we couldn't really move there I decided that was going to be the best I could do."

"Thank you, but, you took a huge risk," Beckett said, taking his hand and holding it in between them.

"It had to be done, because I knew you were thinking about Julia and I needed to make sure that you were going to make it back to her," Castle said. "And I know," he said quickly when Beckett started to speak. "I have Alexis and my mother but during that time, Julia was the priority. Well, you and then her."

"I'm getting the feeling one of these days you're going to make me pay you back for all the times you saved my life," Beckett said wryly, though she was touched at his mentality. "How many does that make it now?"

"I don't feel like counting, ask me later on when we're home," Castle said. "And you saved my life."

"How?" Beckett asked in confusion.

"By making sure I woke up and not just walking off the plane," Castle said.

"You honestly thought I'd do that?" Beckett asked, smiling for the first time since before the flight had gone horribly wrong.

"No, but I feel like I should count that," Castle said. "So," he said slowly when they were both quiet for a while. "Any fatalities?"

"Believe it or not, no," Beckett said. "I asked at the nurse's station, they said everyone's accounted for, and while there are injuries, none are life threatening."

"That's pretty amazing. Skye will be really happy to hear that. Speaking of her…?" Castle said.

"I don't know, I asked but they just said that information would only be given out to her family," Beckett said.

"And speaking of that-" Castle started to say.

"They've been notified, I'm pretty sure they're on their way here," Beckett interrupted him, knowing what he was going to say.

"If I know my mother, she's probably rushing into the lobby downstairs as we speak," Castle said.

"My dad too, and-" Beckett said.

"Julia," they both said.

"What?" Castle asked when she looked a little concerned suddenly.

"I asked the nurse that patched me up if the landing had been on TV, she said yes," Beckett said. "And I just remembered the NTSB go team for this accident; they took my phone. I sent Julia a picture of the plane."

"She… I'm pretty sure your dad wouldn't let her see it," Castle said, remembering then as well.

"I know, but what if he wasn't able to keep her from watching it?" Beckett said. "If she saw it… she's going to be terrified something happened to us."

"We won't be able to find out until they get here," Castle said simply, squeezing her hand. He then pulled on it slightly, enough so he could hug her tightly. "But we got out of it alright."

"We did," Beckett said, pressing her cheek to his shoulder for a moment. She pulled back and kissed him carefully before he responded. Sitting back up once they'd parted she said, "I-"

"Wait," Castle said, stopping her.

Looking at him in confusion, Beckett then heard the sound of footsteps running, and she turned to the door as it opened. "Julia," she said in relief as she got off the bed when her daughter ran inside.

Struggling a little to sit up, Castle watched as Beckett picked up the little girl, clutching at her tightly. He reached out to her, and helped her sit down on the bed again before he ran his hand over the back of Julia's head as she was sobbing heavily.

"We're okay sweetie," Beckett soothed her daughter, rocking her a little in her arms. She kissed the top of her head gently, but didn't say anything else as she looked at Castle.

Moving a little on the bed, though his knee protested with a sharp pang of pain, he wrapped his arms around Beckett, telling Julia, "She's right, we're fine. And I know we're in the hospital, but it's only for a little bit."

"But you were in the plane," Julia said, calming down enough to talk.

"We were," Castle said as he saw Beckett's expression at that. "But we're okay," he told her firmly. "Just some cuts… and bruises," he said, pausing when he had to pull away so Julia could turn to him.

"You have this though," the little girl said, pointing to the ice on his knee.

"That's just to make it numb," Castle said. He noticed movement in the doorway and looked over to see it was his mother and Beckett's dad. He motioned them to come inside when he felt Julia hugging him tightly. Hugging her back he felt Beckett's hand rubbing his arm and glanced up at her. "Julia, listen, we're fine and we should be able to go home soon," he told her in one last attempt to calm her down and reassure her.

"You too?" Julia asked, looking up at him as her chin trembled.

"He will," Beckett assured her. She kissed her daughter's temple and whispered, "I love you Julia."

"I love you too Mommy," Julia said, rubbing her hand over her damp cheek.

Watching the two, Castle felt a sudden, inexplicable rush of relief that he was there, still alive, able to see them reunited. He didn't try to stop himself when the little girl looked at him, and as he hugged her again he whispered, "I love you Julia."

Beckett was a little surprised; but incredibly touched; hearing that, and she turned to her dad, seeing Martha was tearing up. She looked back as her daughter pulled away, chewing on her lower lip, and she couldn't help but feel a little bad that all Julia did in response was give him a quick nod of her head. But there was a shy smile on the little girl's face and a wider one on Castle's too before he kissed her cheek, so she guessed that Julia was okay hearing that. "Come here sweetie, let Martha say hello," she then said as she picked her daughter up. Before she stood, she squeezed his hand, reminding herself to thank him for that later. "Dad," she said as Jim hugged her and Julia together tightly.

Reassuring both their parents that they were fine, Castle and Beckett were interrupted from their reunions as a doctor came inside, nodding to everyone as he said, "I have the x-ray results, if you'd like me to wait I can," glancing at Julia.

"Come on, why don't we get something to drink Julia," Jim said as he saw his daughter's slight hesitation.

"You'll come back sweetie," Beckett said, squeezing her hand after handing her to her dad. "And I'm not going anywhere okay?"

"Kay," Julia said as her grandfather set her down and she took his hand as they left the room.

"You're in luck Mr. Castle, your knee is not fractured, just severe abrasions," the doctor said, putting the x-rays on a lit panel. "You're going to be in pain for a few days, and the bruising will likely take some time to go away. You don't have a concussion, and your lacerations are minor. So you may leave now if you want to. I'm writing a prescription, and I think you should see your regular doctor if the pain is still going on once you finish the bottle. I would suggest at the same time you wear a brace for now, until your knee feels less painful to bend," he said, writing on a pad of paper.

"Great," Castle said. "How about the ice pack?" He waited for the doctor to take it before leaving, and then stood up, looking at his mother and Beckett.

"I'll see where Julia and Jim are, excuse me," Martha said.

"You want me to leave too?" Beckett asked once the door was closed.

"Do you think you need to?" Castle replied without answering.

Looking at him, Beckett handed him his clothes and leaned against the counter as he got dressed in the scrub shirt and pants left for him since they'd had to cut his jeans to look at his knee. "How does the knee feel?" she asked once he finished and he took a few steps around the room.

"Painful every time I flex it, but if it was broken I'm sure it would be a lot worse than this," Castle said. "Are you ready?"

"Yes, but," Beckett said, stopping him from walking over to the door. "I would like to try and find out how Skye's doing. I can meet you all back-"

"I'd like to know if she's okay too," Castle interrupted her. "And then after we'll get my pills and brace and go home," saying the latter in a tone of obvious relief. Before Beckett could go to the door ahead of him, he hugged her tightly to him again. "Sorry if I'm being a little to grabby, but-"

"No, I think it's warranted," Beckett said, hugging him back before she pulled away to look at him. "You feel the same sense of relief I am I'm guessing."

"Very much," Castle said. He shared a quick kiss with her, and then left the room, limping deliberately to try and lessen the pain of his knee.

"Mommy, Castle," Julia gasped as she saw them walking out of the room towards her and her grandfather.

"I told you we would go home," Castle said as the little girl clung to her mother after running over. He smiled as Julia hugged him next, taking their hands as they walked back to his mother and Beckett's dad.

"I'm not ready to go yet," Beckett said. "I need to find out what happened to Skye and make sure she's okay."

"Is your assignment over?" Martha asked.

"It is, but I can't just leave without making sure she made it," Beckett said simply. "So if you two want to go with Castle to fill his prescription-"

"Oh no, I'm going with you," he interrupted her. "But if you guys could take Julia you can head back home."

"No, Mommy, I wanna stay with you and Castle," Julia said quickly, grabbing her mother around the waist forcefully.

"Okay, then we'll just meet you back at his place," Beckett said, picking the little girl up. When her dad and Castle's mother had left, they went over to the nurse's station and found out Skye was two floors up and was still unconcious. Heading to the fifth floor she said a little apprehensively, thinking of the investigator's family, "I hope she's not too seriously injured; even though they said she's not in ICU."

"We'll find out," Castle said.

Beckett studied him then as she saw he'd clenched his jaw while speaking, and asked, "You're sure you don't want to-"

"No, I'm good. I might let you look for her while I sit with Julia," Castle said, smiling at the little girl. "So she can keep me company."

Walking out once the car stopped, Beckett paused, Castle almost running into her. "It's Investigator King," she said, turning back to him. "Investigator," she called as they walked over to the man.

"Detective, Mr. Castle, thank god you're both alright," Peter said, standing up once he'd heard her voice. "I'm guessing you're looking for Skye?"

"Yes, they told us she was here," Castle said as Beckett somehow moved him to the chair next to the one the investigator had.

"She's down the hall," Peter said. "I can take you to see her but you can't go in the room."

"Stay with Castle sweetie," Beckett said, kissing her daughter on the cheek before leaving with the investigator.

"Castle," Julia said, tugging on his shirt as he was watching her mother.

"Yeah, do you need something?" Castle asked, looking down at her quickly.

"No, I wanna ask a question," Julia said.

"Go ahead," Castle said when she didn't continue.

"Were you scared when you fell and the plane got on fire?" Julia asked.

"Did you see that?" Castle asked. The little girl nodded, and he sucked in a breath of air before he finally said, "A little, but I was more scared for you and your mom."

"But I was at your house," Julia said in confusion.

"You're right, but I wanted to make sure your mom got home to you," Castle said.

"Oh, thank you," Julia said, her cheeks turning red then. "I'm glad you got home for Alexis," she said. She then pouted and said, "I wish she was here."

"Me too," Castle said, sighing as he remembered the phone call he'd been able to make to his daughter while he'd been waiting for his doctor. She'd been a little worried, but once he assured her he was fine, she had calmed down and asked about Beckett; knowing she wanted to make sure Julia's mother was alright. He glanced down the hall where his fiancée had gone, but couldn't see her, wondering what kind of shape Skye was in. As he was musing about that while Julia leaned against him, he heard the doors to one of the elevators open, and looked over to see a woman that looked vaguely familiar running out as nurses and aides tried to admonish her to stop. It was when the realization snapped into place in his mind that he stood and hurried after her, Julia wrapping her arms around his neck, asking what was wrong as they followed the woman down the hall.

Stopping in front of a room with a window looking into it, Beckett saw the investigator lying on the bed inside, her eyes closed and a darkening bruise covering the right side of her face. "She's okay you said?" she asked, looking at Investigator King.

"I know, it doesn't look like it," he replied. "But she's suffering from blood loss. According to some of the go team I contacted that're looking at the plane now, the cockpit on the pilot's side is almost awash with blood. She's had a transfusion, and will have to stay a couple days for observation, but besides that she landed beautifully under the circumstances."

"Has anyone called her wife?" Beckett asked.

About to answer, Peter heard someone running to them, and he looked down the hall seeing the woman that Castle had recognized. "Mary," he said as he stopped her from running past him.

"They told me she was here," the woman said, panting heavily and looking a little frantic. "I didn't give them a chance to tell me what happened, I knew you would."

After quickly telling her the condition her wife was in, Peter then led her to the door, opening it for her. He closed it, not going in after her, and he went to Beckett saying, "Better leave her."

"Wait, she's awake," Beckett said before he could take her arm.

Looking inside, Castle could see that she was right, watching as Mary McDouglas hugged her wife tightly. "Someone should get a nurse," he said.

"Mommy," Julia said as they left the hall after Peter had gone to the nurse's station. "Who's the lady in the bed?"

"She was the one I was protecting," Beckett said.

"Oh, she got hurt on the plane?" Julia asked as she was set down and she took both Castle's and her mother's hands.

"She did, she was actually flying it," Castle said.

"How did she fly, it was broken," Julia said.

"That's a long story, but she knows how to fly broken planes like that," Peter said as he reached them, nurses running to Skye's room. "Sorry, couldn't help answering."

"That's alright, and she knows how to fly without hydraulics?" Beckett asked.

"She practices a lot in the simulator," Peter said. "A rare event but… it paid off."

"It really did," Castle said, looking over at Beckett as Julia embraced her.

After shaking hands with the investigator, Beckett and Castle led Julia to the elevator; having told the man to urge Skye to contact them once she was well so they could be assured of her recovery; they shared a glance over the little girl's head as they went down to the lobby. Already knowing what the other was thinking as their thought process had been very similar since they'd realized they had survived, they didn't have to say a word, and took the opportunity not to do so.

* * *

"Dad, hey you're home!" Alexis said as her father appeared on the screen of her laptop. "Hi Julia," she said, seeing the little girl sitting on the armchair behind her father.

"Hey sweetheart, I hope you don't mind if I sit," Castle said as he picked up Julia and set her on his lap once he was sitting where she'd been. "My knee's still a little wonky."

"I know, Gram told me," Alexis said, smiling through some tears. "I am so happy to see you."

"Believe me when I say I concur," Castle said. "But I'm fine, Beckett's fine and so is everyone else that was on the flight."

"I've watched the news a little, they're calling it a miracle," Alexis said. "And they're also calling the flight crew heroes. So the woman flying the plane was the one Beckett was protecting?'

"She was," a voice said from the doorway. Beckett smiled as everyone looked at her and said, "Hey Alexis."

Waving Alexis then said, "Glad to see you're alright, but is your ear?"

"It's not too deep," Beckett said, glancing at Julia who was frowning. "I just came to get Julia so you two could talk alone."

"But Mommy-" Julia began to whine.

"Say goodbye sweetie, you'll talk to her another day," Beckett said.

Sighing deeply, Julia turned to the TV and said, "Bye Alexis. I miss you."

"I miss you too Julia," Alexis said, waving. Once she could see the door to her dad's office closing on the screen she quickly said, "They talked about other flights that lost the hydraulic systems like your plane did Dad."

"I'm not surprised… were they bad?" Castle asked, getting a little more comfortable in the armchair and stretching out his leg.

"I don't really know any details, but a couple sounded like they were," Alexis said. "How's the woman who was flying the plane doing?"

"She had to have a transfusion," Castle said. "And she'll be staying at the hospital for a couple days, but other than that, she's alright. I think the worst injured was the pilot, but all he ended up with was a concussion and some deep lacerations."  
"I heard you helped get him out," Alexis said. When her dad shrugged she then said, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, the knee is pretty badly bruised," Castle said, looking down at it though it was covered. "I don't know if I'll want to look at it tomorrow. But I got some lacerations, and other bruises; so did Beckett. But we're doing good, just relieved."

"I'm really glad, and I'm also glad she's there to make sure you take care of yourself," Alexis said.

"Me too," Castle murmured, glancing out to the couch where he was just barely able to see Beckett sitting with her dad and his mother, talking to them both as Julia was kneeling at the coffee table.

"You didn't want to talk to Alexis?" Beckett was saying to Martha as she helped Julia climb up on her lap.

"I'll talk with her later," Martha said simply. "As I usually do, let them talk alone for now. Are you finished with your case?"

"We were finished with it before we left DC," Beckett said. "The senator who brought the assignment to me requested that I escort Skye back here and once she was that part of the case was finished. But we gave everything over to the FBI once the suspect was… found," she said, trailing off as she looked at her daughter.

"Has she calmed down?" Martha asked as she noticed Castle coming out of his office then.

"She has, since it's been a while since you called her to let her know we were okay," Castle said, sitting on the couch next to Beckett. He wasn't too surprised when Julia climbed onto his lap, and he wrapped an arm around her saying, "But we finished the conversation wishing she was here."

"Why don't you go visit her?" Beckett asked.

"Actually, wait, I just got an idea," Castle said before he pulled his phone out of his pocket.

Looking on as he began to speak, Beckett was a little surprised he was talking to his daughter again, but then he began asking about the next weekend and she smiled as she realized what he was going to do. "Is she okay to come home?" she asked once he'd hung up.

"She is, and now that I know, I will probably take your daughter with me and Alexis to go out to eat while she's here," Castle said.

"That reminds me, the dinner," Martha said as she suddenly stood. "It was supposed to be lunch, but as a dinner it will still work of course."

Tugging on her mother's sweater, Julia asked, "Alexis is here?"

"Next week she'll come," Beckett replied. She was surprised when Julia's eyes welled up with tears and she and Castle both grabbed her as she asked, "What's wrong?"

"She has to fly?" Julia asked fearfully.

"Oh, sweetie, no, it's okay," Beckett said, taking her then. "What happened to us doesn't happen all the time."

"She's right, no one would fly if that did happen," Castle said, rubbing her arm before the little girl suddenly took his hand. "She flew out to California and she was fine remember?"

"Are you going to be scared to go to San Francisco?" Beckett then asked. "Because remember we do need to fly."

"Will you come with me?" Julia asked, looking at both her mother and Castle.

"Of course," Castle said, feeling he should answer that. "And my mother will too. We'll fly out there together and fly back. And we'll be okay."

"You do want to visit don't you?" Beckett asked as it looked like Julia was thinking that over.

"Yeah, can we look at the book again?" the little girl asked eagerly.

"Actually we don't have it with us," Beckett said, sharing a look with Castle since they hadn't gotten their bags back yet. "But why don't you get your tablet and we'll play something together until we eat." Once their daughter had hurried over to her bag by the door, she looked at her father and asked, "How was she up until you came over?"

"She did really well, she missed you of course, but she had a great time I think," Jim said. "She kept asking me about DC, and where you might be going while you were there."

"Should take her there, she'd love the Smithsonian," Castle said as Julia came back.

"But I wanna go to San Francisco first," Julia said worriedly as she came back to them.

"We will," Beckett assured her. She was about to pick Julia up when her daughter shook her head and then climbed up on the couch next to Castle.

"Can we play our game?" Julia asked him a little shyly. She gasped loudly when he picked her up and set her on his lap, giggling once she realized what he was doing.

"I'm so glad to be home," Beckett said, leaning over and kissing her daughter's temple. She squeezed Castle's arm before going over to the kitchen with her father to help Martha, leaving them to their game as they laughed and giggled over the screen.

* * *

"She's still asleep?" Castle asked as Beckett came into the room, closing the door behind her.

"Yeah, I thought you were going to get changed," she said as she saw he was sitting on the edge of the bed.

"I don't know if I want to really," Castle said, looking down at his knee.

"Oh, don't be a baby, take off your clothes Castle," Beckett said easily as she took off her sweater.

Watching her with slightly widened eyes as he hadn't expected her to do so herself; or so abruptly; Castle couldn't really do as she asked. He was too busy watching her and he frowned slightly when he saw the cuts over her upper body, along with bruising on her shoulders.

"Is it that bad?" Beckett said as she turned to him when she'd finished, seeing he was still sitting there.

"No, I'm just hoping that isn't painful," Castle said, shaking himself.

"Come on," Beckett said, going over to him and starting to unbutton the shirt he'd changed into once they'd come back. When he took over she allowed him to and then asked, sitting next to him, "Did you take your pill?"

"Yeah, I just hope it doesn't make me sloopy," Castle said. He then saw the expression on Beckett's face, and realized his fiancée was trying to hold back laughter. "Oh no, what did I just say?" he asked.

"Sloopy?" Beckett said questioningly though she was laughing slightly.

"Sloopy?" Castle said incredulously. He groaned and said, "I better get some sleep, I am so glad I only have to take those at night." He removed his jeans then and said, "This would be a lot more fun if you hadn't changed." He saw the expression on her face and realized she was looking at his knee and asked, "Bad?"

"Really bad, I'm surprised you didn't break any bones," Beckett said, touching the nearly black bruising that went down below his knee for an inch before fading. She tensed when he suddenly hissed and asked, "Did that hurt?"

"No, that was actually pleasant," Castle said, watching her. "Feel free to do that again."

"Come on sloopy," Beckett said, rolling her eyes as she stood. "Get dressed and we'll both get some sleep."

Sighing, Castle did as she said and then sat up against the headboard before she came out of the bathroom a moment later. "Something on your mind?" he asked, seeing the expression on her face as she climbed under the covers next to him.

"What you said earlier, to Julia," Beckett said as he turned off the lights. She turned to him and since there was a full moon she could easily see his face. "You meant that."

"I wouldn't throw those words around without meaning them Kate," Castle said firmly. "Especially not to her."

"So it took you until now to say it," Beckett said, wondering if she had worded that wrong as soon as the words were out of her mouth.

"No, I've wanted to say it for a while, but didn't think it was my place," Castle said. "Not until you said you were okay with me adopting her. But, I still held back because I really didn't want to make her uncomfortable. I couldn't stop today because I realized how lucky I was to be there to be able to see you two when she came in the room."

"It was sweet?" Beckett asked.

"Definitely," Castle said simply.

"Does it bother you she doesn't really respond to that, just… nods her head?" Beckett asked, since her daughter had done the same earlier when they'd put her to bed and he'd said the same thing to her.

"Not really," Castle said honestly. "She'll need time. And I can be patient. It's why I really want to spend more time with her."

"I don't blame you," Beckett said. They were quiet for a moment, and she turned to him, about to speak when she stopped, seeing that he was asleep. She smiled at the sight, and then leaned over, kissing him on the lips lightly. "I know how patient you can be," she sighed as she pressed against him. She closed her eyes and soon found herself falling sleep quickly, the events of that day catching up to her, but not troubling her as her sleep was deep and calm as Castle's arm soon wrapped around her waist.


	17. The Answer's At The End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a two phrases here in Irish, again, didn't save what I was saying in English before changing it, lol, but I think the first phrase is love, what are you doing here. And the second phrase is I thought you were going to meet me at the restaurant. And there's also a phrase in Russian, it's safe journey in the English alphabet.
> 
> The title of this chapter is the title of a song by George Harrison, from his album Extra Texture (Read All About It).

The 747 was gleaming with its new paint and livery scheme in the sunlight coming in from the open doors of the hangar at JFK airport. Footsteps echoed down the length of it before pausing in front of steps leading up to the cabin.

"Looks like she came out great," a voice said behind the figure.

Castle and Beckett watched as Skye turned around at his voice, and then smiled at them. "Someone let you know I was here," she stated as she waited for them to come up to her.

"It was Earl Hearst," Beckett said, shaking the investigator's hand before Castle did the same.

"Ah, he heard about the case, and of course, like most of the country, heard about the crash," Skye said. "So… does it look as bad as your expression is making it seem?" knowing they were looking at her face which was heavily bruised on the right side still. She glanced down then at her left arm which was heavily bandaged, but looked up as Castle began to speak.

"Sorry, it's better than it was right after the crash," he said.

"Two weeks makes a difference," Skye said, shrugging.

"How are you?" Beckett asked.

Sighing a little, Skye said, "Okay, some pain from the cuts and bruises, but I survived and that's the main thing."

"We didn't realize you were working with exhaustion," Castle said. "We were told you'd only be at the hospital a couple days, not three."

"That was a surprise, and I was berated pretty soundly for doing that to myself," Skye said with a slight smile. "But I treasured the chance to rest. And you two?"

"We're fine," Beckett said. "The cuts are pretty much gone and the bruises too." She glanced at Castle, since the bruising on his knee was easing up but still very much visible. "And Captain Burgh?"

"Doing alright, he's taken some time off, he's in England right now," Skye said. "Come on up and take a closer look at the livery," she said to Castle.

"What?" he said, turning to her from where he'd bee looking at the plane.

"You might want to see it up close," Skye said simply, going up the stairs. "They're getting started on the plaid livery I thought of, blue, red and white like a scarf in the wind. It's coming along well," she said as they walked down the side of the plane on the scaffolding.

"This plane isn't finished?" Castle asked, reaching out to touch a rose nearest to his head but pausing.

"It's finished, but they're cleaning her up for the press conference tomorrow morning before the flight," Skye said. "Though I assume you know that's why I'm here."

"We tried to get a hold of you," Beckett said, looking up at the tail. "But couldn't get a hold of Investigator King."

"Peter told me you wanted me to contact you, but I went back to LA, and things got a little busy there. I actually was in DC yesterday…" Skye began before looking out onto the floor of the hangar. "Oh, for the love of… _grá_ _,_ _cad_ _tá ar siúl agat_ _anseo_?"

Startled at that, Castle and Beckett both looked out with her and saw the same young woman from the hospital coming up the stairs. That time though she looked a lot less harried with her hair done up in a neat bun and her pace a lot slower than her run through the hospital.

"Your wife," Castle said.

"She is," Skye said, shaking her head affectionately as she watched her wife walk down the scaffolding.

"You know, when we first saw her we talked about how she kind of looks like-" Castle began to say.

"Sarah Palin?" Skye asked. When Castle nodded she shrugged and said, "She gets that all the time; we're pretty much used to it by now." She then turned her attention to her wife and said, " _Cheap mé go raibh_ _tú ag dul_ _chun freastal ar dom_ _ag_ _an_ _mbialann_."

Sharing a look as the two women proceeded to speak rapidly in what they guessed was Irish, Castle and Beckett tried to decide what they should do before the two stopped and turned to them.

"Sorry about that, just needed to discuss something. Beckett, Castle, this is my wife Mary McDouglas," Skye said, motioning to her.

"I remember seeing you at the hospital," Mary said, shaking their hands. "I came down here to get my wife, but I'm glad to meet you because I wanted to get the chance to thank you for saving her life during the case."

"It wasn't a problem," Beckett said easily. "And she saved ours on the flight back."

"Would you like to go inside?" Skye said quickly. "The interior is brand new as well."

"I would say yes, she's been itching to get onto the flight deck and couldn't wait for tomorrow," Mary said a little wryly.

"We'll follow you," Castle said as he was watching Beckett. When she nodded slightly he let her follow Skye and Mary before he walked after them.

"There's something I've wanted to ask," Skye said, turning to them as she and Mary waited at the top of the staircase to first class. "What happened hasn't scared you enough to keep you off airplanes has it?"

"I owe you," Castle said to Beckett.

"No," she said quickly, having made a bet with him that Skye would ask exactly that if they ever got in contact with her. "We're fine with planes, after working around you we understand them a lot more than we did before."

"And planes are a lot safer," Castle said.

"You've been watching _Air Crash Investigation_?" Mary asked with a slight smile on her lips as she glanced at her wife.

"He has, I stopped after we watched the episode about Tenerife," Beckett said, having wanted to know what the investigator would say about that accident.

"That's a rough one," Skye said shortly, nodding before she started walking up to the cockpit.

"Wait," Beckett said, quickly realizing the reason for that reaction. "I'm sorry, you knew someone on one of the planes?"

"My father was friends with the KLM flight engineer," Skye said simply. "And the co-pilot as well, every year on the anniversary he would try and drink a glass of sherry for the two, in their memory. He was always very depressed around that time."

"I didn't know," Beckett said.

"How could you… no it's alright," Skye said as she looked back at her wife.

Turning to look at the woman, Beckett saw she was smiling slightly at Skye, and realized the change in the investigator's demeanor had come from that simple show of affection. She glanced at Castle then, seeing he was looking at the two women, and she then cleared her throat, trying not to laugh at his slight jump. "Has the investigation found anything yet on what happened to the plane we were on?" she asked to change the subject.

"It's a bit early, but the most obvious is metal fatigue, which would mean horrible news for BA. Though if you ask me, I'd say something was wrong with the metal itself," Skye said, going into the cockpit then. She turned to Beckett and saw that Castle and her wife were talking at the first row of seats. "It's believed we lost hydraulics when the sheets of metal from the fuselage broke off and flew back on the horizontal stabilizers, cutting the lines. It's incredibly rare though for that to happen; I've never seen it before actually. Well, it happening in that exact way."

"When we were in the airport before the flight," Beckett said, bringing up something that had been bothering her. "You seemed to… sense something was wrong with the plane didn't you?"

"Is this an interrogation?" Skye asked, leaning against the pilot's chair.

"No, but I can imagine I'm right with that answer," Beckett said simply.

"I have a kind of… I tend to be able to read a plane," Skye finally said after studying her for a long moment. "Not all the time, but a number of times I've been able to sense some minor problems with a plane I'm about to fly on. But Flight 139 was different, I don't know why, I can't really explain it, but I just knew that something was wrong with it. It's not really supernatural, just…"

"Intuition," Beckett supplied. When the investigator nodded she said, "I believe you. Mainly because I've seen you around planes and how you are when you look at one."

"Yes, I'm sorry if it's a little disturbing," Skye said, suddenly a little flustered, glancing over at her wife.

"So you look at her the same way?" Beckett asked, trying not to smile at the woman's reaction.

"In a way… not the same I don't think Mary would really appreciate that," Skye said, nodding towards her. "But there you have it; I've been around planes for so long I can do that."

"It's not a surprise, and a good thing you can, you warned the co-pilot before the flight," Beckett said.

"I did, not surprised you managed to suss that out," Skye said as she looked at the control panel above her head.

"Another question I had," Beckett began; wanting to make sure that Skye was listening to her as the investigator was looking around the controls.

"About?" Skye asked, looking at her for a moment before sitting at the flight engineer's seat.

"What we saw you do, for your case, you do that all alone pretty much," Beckett stated.

"Pretty much," Skye said, knowing why she was asking that. "However, I do talk to Mary about the cases. Don't tell the NTSB though; I would get in a lot of trouble."

"Castle and I wouldn't?" Beckett asked.

"That was an exception," Skye said, standing up and reaching into her coat. "Which reminds me of something I was going to tell you both earlier. Mary," she called to her wife.

"What?" the woman asked, walking over with Castle following.

"You wanted to know why I was flown to DC?" Skye said as she was handing envelopes to both Castle and Beckett. "Open them," she said, nodding as the two were waiting for her to continue.

Reading the letter inside the envelope, Castle's eyes went wide as he saw the signature on the bottom and said, "Did he sign it?"

"Signed it in front of me," Skye said, smiling before she looked at her wife. "He asked me to come in because he had a question for me."

"And that was?" Mary asked, Beckett looking up from her letter.

"The President offered me Helen's position," Skye said with a sigh. "She apparently wants to go back to investigating in three years when her term is up, and he wants to appoint me as Chairman. But he left the decision up to me."

"You turned it down," Beckett said a little awkwardly as there as a long moment of silence, the two women looking at each other.

"I did, relax love," Skye said to her wife. "You know me."

"I do, but I've never asked if you would want to do that," Mary said.

"And move here to the East Coast; sorry," Skye said in exasperation, directing the apology to Castle and Beckett.

"Too bad, you would make a great Chairman if you were into the bureaucratic side of the job," Castle said. "Did you ask him to write these?" he asked then, holding up his letter; a thank you from the President for his help on the protection detail Beckett had been assigned to.

"No, that was his decision, Senator Pittman kept him apprised of the case and he knows what you both did for me," Skye said. "So like it says in the letters he told me the gist of, he's grateful."

"Thanks for getting these to us," Beckett said, tucking her letter into her coat. "We wanted to make sure that you were alright though."

"Work?" Skye asked with a knowing half smile as she took that to mean they needed to go.

"Unfortunately," Castle said.

"Ah, paperwork then," Skye said, looking at Beckett who nodded. "Yes, that's my same reaction, which you saw before. We'll walk out with you."

"There was one thing," Beckett said before they could leave. "We wanted make sure you understood we appreciate what you did on that flight."

"I did what my father would have done," Skye said simply before her wife touched her shoulder gently. "You're welcome," she said after they exchanged a look. "I know you have a daughter; you as well," she said to first Beckett and then Castle. "And really, I wanted us all to get back to our families."

"I think you did him proud," Castle said. "That was some amazing flying."

"He's right, especially since you're usually in simulators Skye," Mary said quickly, beaming at Castle for the compliment.

"Okay, okay, I was just glad to get the plane down to JFK in relatively one piece," Skye said. "Let's head out Mary, I could use a rest before dinner."

"So you're still going to be flying her?" Beckett asked, gesturing with her thumb back to the cockpit after they'd walked to the stairs. When Skye only nodded she smiled a little and said, "I wish we could join you, it would be an interesting flight."

"Yeah, you couldn't fly our flight to San Francisco next month?" Castle joked.

"No need to kiss me arse," Skye said, sounding a little irked. "I understand the sentiment fully though, I was so relieved to get back to LA." When they had stepped out of the hangar into the chilly February afternoon, she suddenly stopped walking and turned to Castle asking, "Are you planning on writing something similar to the two cases we were investigating?" motioning to both herself and Beckett.

"I was thinking about it," Castle conceded.

"Do you still have my card?" Skye asked.

"Lost, I assume on the plane somewhere," Beckett answered.

"Then here," Skye said, handing a card in her pocket to him. "Should you create an NTSB agent for one of your books, I get the feeling you may need some help with the crash half of the investigations."

"So I can contact you with any questions?" Castle asked.

"I wouldn't have handed that to you, you would have gotten my West number," Skye said. She heard her wife scoff and said, "Which I never use as I have the phone unplugged."

"I'll use this wisely then, and I appreciate it," Castle said, tucking the card with his letter.

"And this," Beckett said, handing Skye another card. "Since you lost mine obviously."

"Obviously, in case I need help with something?" Skye asked in slight confusion.

"Something like that, also, in case he might lose that card," Beckett said.

"Right, thank you," Skye said, tucking the card into her pocket. She held out her hand and as she shook Beckett's said, "It was interesting to meet you, and I am grateful for what you've done for me."

"The same for us I think," Beckett said, watching as Castle shook her hand next. She then shook the investigator's wife's hand and said, "Interesting to meet you as well."

"Yes, thank you for watching out for her, even though it was a request from the President and Pittman, I know you likely might have kept an eye on her anyways," Mary said. "And I was glad to meet you, should we meet again…"

"Different circumstances. And Castle, should you create a character based on me, I'd like you to be careful not to make it so much like me… she is me," Skye said with a slight smile. "Enjoy Valentine's Day tomorrow, goodbye."

" _Bezopasnoye puteshestviye_ ," Beckett said suddenly, Castle looking at her.

"Safe journey, for you next month," Skye said with a wide smile before she turned and she and Mary continued.

"You're not going to lose the card are you?" Beckett asked, watching as Skye wrapped her arm around her wife's shoulders.

"No, but still, should she need our help, she'll have your number," Castle said.

"And you'll have hers, so are you serious about that character?" Beckett asked with a smile as they walked to the right of the hangar to where her car was parked.

"Definitely, actually, I think I want to try and outline that, but later on, when we're finished with the paperwork," Castle said.

"You mean when I'm finished," Beckett corrected him. When he nodded in deference to her words, she rolled her eyes and opened the driver's side door, looking up as a 747 took off above them, knowing he was watching it as well.

* * *

"Hey Julia," Castle said as the little girl ran up to him. "Hold on," he said quickly when she tried to climb up on his lap. He handed his laptop to Beckett who had walked in after her daughter, and picked Julia up. "So how was school?" he asked.

"Mommy are you staying?" Julia said worriedly, looking at her.

"Yes sweetie, go ahead and tell us," Beckett said with a slight smile as she was putting Castle's computer on his desk.

"We did some art, we made hearts and used lots of red," Julia said, wrinkling her nose slightly. "I used blue too and Johnny said that was funny. But then we learned about birdies, they fall in love tomorrow."

"Interesting," Castle said, watching Beckett as she sat down in the armchair next to his. "What else?"

Smiling as she listened to Julia rattle off everything she'd done in her class, Beckett took Castle's hand on the arm of his chair and squeezed it gently before her daughter got down from his lap suddenly.

"And ballet?" Castle asked.

"Nothing," Julia said, shaking her head as she leaned against her mother's legs, eyeing Castle's knees where there was an ice pack on one.

"It's alright, that's just to help the pain a little," Beckett said, realizing then why the little girl had come to her.

"It hurts?" Julia asked, looking up at him.

"Not anymore," Castle said, bending over to try and take off the pack. He was surprised when Beckett did it for him and looked up at her questioningly.

"Keep him company sweetie," she said simply in response. "I'm going to go ahead and get dinner for us."

Biting her lower lip, Julia turned to Castle and said in a panicky tone of voice, "Don't!" when he stood up.

"It's okay," he said, picking her up. "I need to walk or else my knee is going to freeze into place, and I'll never be able to juggle a soccer ball again."

"But you don't," Julia said, looking at her mother as he'd said that as he left his office.

"I doubt you ever will either," Beckett said.

"Then I'll never be able to bend it," Castle said. "Do you have any homework?" he asked Julia.

"Some papers and to color a picture," Julia replied.

"Then why don't we get it ready," Castle said, setting her down on the couch. "And then we'll go ahead and finish up with those Valentines."

"Kay, but I wanna work on those first," Julia said.

"After," Beckett said from the kitchen before she took her phone from her pocket.

Seeing Julia's pout Castle quickly said, "I'll help you, it'll be fun, you can laugh at me when I make a mistake."

"Don't you know already?" Julia asked in surprise.

"Maybe I forgot, it was a long time ago that I was in Kindergarten," Castle said. "Go get your backpack and let's see what you've got."

"How long?" Julia asked.

"Long, a very long time," Castle said seriously. He watched Julia hurry to her backpack by the door and felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Nice," Beckett said, leaning down and kissing the back of his head.

"You liked that?" Castle asked in a low tone to match hers as he looked up at her.

"I did. Your knee isn't too bad is it?" Beckett asked.

"It was the spiral staircase that did it," Castle replied quickly. "And it's better now I took some aspirin and the ice pack. Okay, let's see what you've got," he told Julia as he took her backpack.

"Are you gonna help Mommy?" Julia asked.

"Maybe for your art homework," Beckett said. "Which you can do first," she said quickly as her daughter opened her mouth. "What do you need to draw this time?"

"I don't know, I didn't let my teacher read," Julia said simply. "You can read it," she said, handing a slip of paper to her mother.

" _Using the color red, draw a place you know or have seen_ ," Beckett read.

"Interesting," Castle said, though he looked confused.

"What do you want to draw?" Beckett asked her daughter.

Looking thoughtful for a moment, Julia then gasped and asked, "Where is the San Francisco book?"

"In my office below the TV," Castle said. "Go ahead and grab it." Once she was hurrying over to the room he turned to Beckett and asked, "A building?"

"They explain their pictures," she replied with a smile. "So it's not so much the drawing itself, but the interpretation."

"She's got a good teacher, I don't remember Alexis ever doing that," Castle said.

"Is Alexis here?" Julia asked eagerly, coming back out then.

"No, she needs to stay in California," Castle said. "But we'll see her soon actually, a little more than a month now."

"That's too long still," Julia sighed, climbing up on the couch in between her mother and Castle. "I want to draw this," she said, showing them the page she had opened to while she was in the office.

"Good idea," Beckett said.

"It's definitely red…" Castle said, trailing off a little as he saw the picture of a pagoda.

"Did Alexis go?" Julia asked as he helped her back down so she could start to color.

"She did, and she said she wants to take you remember?" Castle said. "Apparently it's by the Academy of Sciences place… and am I being too eager about this again?" he asked when he saw the smile on Beckett's face.

"A little, but," Beckett said, leaning against him, "I wonder why you didn't go out to see Alexis if you want to go so badly."

"She was a little homesick when she first went out there, so I thought it would be nice to bring her home for a little before she goes back to finish," Castle said.

"I'm happy she came home, I wanted to see her," Julia said, turning to them. "Can she come again?"

"I don't think so, she needs to concentrate on her classes," Castle said.

"He's right, but you'll see her again before she comes back," Beckett reminded her again. She glanced at Castle when he squeezed her arm, and shrugged as she knew what he was thinking. Since they had survived the plane crash at JFK, Julia had become needier with them; and Alexis as well. When they'd gone to the airport on Sunday evening to send her back to California, the little girl had wept and tried to hold on to the young woman, begging her to stay. She had been unsettled seeing that, but knew it was stemming from the little girl having seen the accident. They'd been working the past two weeks with her together and on their own, trying to help Julia lose that fear. She had taken her daughter to a couple sessions with her psychiatrist, and things seemed to have begun to work out, but Julia was still clingy with her and Castle, not wanting to let them leave her when they were with her.

She suddenly smiled to herself, remembering the past two weeks, and what Castle had been doing to try and get Julia to stop being afraid of planes on the advice of the doctor. He had started watching movies of planes landing at airports with her daughter on the internet; eventually she herself had joined in with them so the little girl would see that they were both okay with airplanes. And the three of them had even gone out the last weekend with Alexis; before her flight; to watch the planes taking off and landing at JFK. He was also building up a collection of model airplanes with Julia, every so often they'd gone to sites and picked out planes they would like to have together. After they'd built up a nice little fleet, so to speak, she herself had helped the two make a little collage on the computer to print out for Julia, the little girl drawing the planes and making up her own with their encouragement. They'd done everything they could to help her overcome her fear; they were just hoping what they'd done would work come the twenty-second of the next month.

The doorbell rang then, and shook Beckett out of her thoughts as she stood, squeezing Castle's hand which held on to hers, going to open the door. "It's just dinner sweetie," she told her daughter, seeing her watching closely. "Keep coloring and after Castle and I will help you with your homework." She was relieved when her fiancé turned Julia's attention back to her picture, and turned her own to the door, still listening to the two talking together quietly.

* * *

"It took longer," Castle was saying carefully.

"What?" Beckett asked, looking back at him at the top of the staircase.

"It took longer to get her tired tonight," Castle said as he followed her into Alexis' room.

"I know, she's nervous about tomorrow. Her first Valentine's Day remember," Beckett said.

"Our second," Castle said.

"I can count," Beckett said, glancing back at him with a slight smile. She tucked her daughter into bed then, and let Castle lean down to kiss the top of her head before she kissed Julia's cheeks and her forehead. Stepping back she took his arm, watching him as he seemed to be musing over something. "Come on," she said softly, wanting to leave the little girl to get her rest. "You really think letting her stay up an extra fifteen minutes will work?" she asked once they were going down the stairs.

"Well, it worked last night," Castle said. "She didn't have a nightmare."

"You make a good point, and she is calming down a little," Beckett said as she leaned against the counter while he began to make some coffee. "But she still wants us to stay with her." She saw him nod and she then said, "She's changed a little towards you."

"I know," Castle said, looking at her. "And I really appreciate it; I just wish it hadn't taken the crash to do that. How're you?"

"Alright," Beckett said slowly, not really wanting to talk about the nightmare she'd had two nights before at her place. It had been of the moment she had come out of unconsciousness once the plane had stopped, and things had gone much differently in it than they actually had. "And you?"

"No nightmares which I'm grateful for, but I feel a little guilty I'm not going through anything and you and Julia are," Castle said. "Though of course, if I could control my dreams, I would have one, just so I'm even with you."

"Would you really?" Beckett asked doubtfully.

Taking in a breath, Castle finally shook his head no and said, "Probably not, but that would be great if you two could do that."

"It would help Julia," Beckett said. "There's something I wanted to ask you," she said as she took the mug he handed her. "How much are you going to make that character like Skye?"

"I don't even have a plot yet, but, I think I would want her just enough like Skye that she'd recognize herself," Castle said. "But it would be great to think about that, have it set now. It might help me to come up with a murder, the reason she would be around Nikki Heat."

"Just have her protect her," Beckett said with shrug. She was surprised; as they walked together to the couch; that he looked a little doubtful, and asked, "No? I thought you might just go that route, it's easier."

"I would prefer to make things more complicated," Castle said.

"So it takes you much longer to get through it?" Beckett said simply, sitting down.

"Something like that. But that can be determined later. Now however, I just want to ask your opinion," Castle said.

"Alright," Beckett said easily as she watched him standing next to her. "You can sit, unless you're going to start pacing a path into your rug."

"No, I'm just thinking, Skye's personality, her character, is perfect, because again, you do realize a lot of it mirrors yours," Castle said once he was sitting.

"As an investigator," Beckett said a little hesitantly.

"And personally," Castle said, watching her.

"You want to put in the reflecting back story of Skye losing her father," Beckett stated.

"No, I just wanted you to say that out loud," Castle said. When he saw she was shaking her head he looked at her questioningly.

"There are too many differences, one, she lost both parents, not just one," Beckett said. "Two, her father was not murdered."

"It did affect her deeply, but never mind," Castle said, gesturing with his hand. "She moved on obviously."

"You noticed that?" Beckett asked.

"Hard not to, she was a lot less moody once her wife was around," Castle said. "She's pretty interesting though, apparently as obsessed about planes as Skye is."

"Living with Skye did you expect anything else?" Beckett asked. "So let's get back to the character in this future book that's floating in space waiting for us to get her a little more defined."

"Okay," Castle said, amused by the way she had worded that. "So she's a tough NTSB investigator… I'll have to ask her if I could use the name."

"I'm sure you can," Beckett said.

"So besides that, she's got something in her past that makes her very moody, a little standoffish. I'm thinking a plane crash too, but, not sure I want to go that way…" Castle said. "Wait, I've got an idea for her; her parents were flying somewhere in California, in a private plane, and got into LAX airspace and collided with a commercial jet."

"That happened before," Beckett said warily.

Opening his mouth, Castle looked at her and then grimaced saying, "Yeah, an Aeromexico plane and a Piper. It… the jet crashed in a neighborhood in Cerritos."

"That might work," Beckett said with a sigh. "But wouldn't that give the character some stigma. Oh, I see," she said quickly as speaking that brought the realization to her. "You want that so she'll be working to try and deal with that crash. Will she have been a child at the time?"

"No, teenager, but yeah, it'll make her a little untrusting of people because there will have been a huge windfall from after the crash and her becoming a pilot and going through taunts about her father and everything dealing with that," Castle said. "Think I should have her and Nikki clash?"

"Depends on if that's the only drama you'll have," Beckett said. "You could always have what happened with me and Skye."

"Clash on a suspect," Castle mused. "I might do that, I was thinking having it be the character's wife, but that's too obvious of course, though tempting," he said. "But that would have it last longer than what happened between you and Skye."

"Her leaving helped," Beckett said. "It cooled her down. So it sounds like you have her pretty much set."

"Just need a name," Castle said, looking thoughtful again.

"Javi came up with one," Beckett said, her memory jogged suddenly. When Castle looked at her she then said, "Jet Blue."

"Jet Blue?" Castle said. "I'd be sued like crazy for that."

"It's an airline?" Beckett asked. When he nodded she laughed briefly but then said, "Anything you have in mind that's not a copyright issue?"

"I do like the name Jet actually," Castle said slowly, not missing the slight shake of Beckett's head at that. "Maybe Jet Rain?" He saw the look on her face and said, "Too much like a name a meteorologist would have. Okay, I'll have to think about the last name, but I will use the name Jet."

"Maybe that would be better as a last name," Beckett suggested. "What would you call the book if you did write it?"

Looking up, Castle thought for a moment before saying, "Blue Heat comes to mind, but I'll have time to think about that a lot more thoroughly."

"Of course," Beckett said, sipping the last of her coffee. She saw that Castle was doing the same, and she slid over to him, closing the gap between them. "How's your knee?" she asked as he looked at her.

"Fine," Castle said, looking a little confused for a second. "I didn't really want another cup…" he said when she took his mug. Scratching his cheek as he turned to watch her walk to the kitchen he asked, "I forgot to ask what your plans are for tomorrow since we don't need to go in to the station."

"After I take Julia to school," Beckett said, setting aside the cups. "I'll head back home and just see what I need to do; I haven't been home besides the other night for much more than getting more clothes and to feed her fish."

"You still have lunch plans with your dad?" Castle said as she sat next to him.

"The Russian Tea Room," Beckett said with a slight nod. "Then we'll go to that new art gallery near Julia's school so we can pick her up together before I bring her home. And you're still planning on writing?"

"I… yes," Castle said, sounding a little hesitant before he nodded. He saw her look and then told her, "Sorry, just remembering where I stopped last time I wrote."

"Okay, and I've been meaning to ask, what about our plans?" Beckett asked when she realized he wasn't going to say more than that though she didn't really believe him.

"They're still on, actually, I'm glad you asked, I was able to finalize everything," Castle said.

"For dinner?" Beckett asked.

"Sure," Castle said with a shrug. "We're going to somewhere a little different."

"Not _Le Cirque_?" Beckett said in slight surprise. When he shook his head she then asked, "Want to give me a hint?"

"You'll find out tomorrow," Castle said simply. "But you'll enjoy it." He looked down at his knee then, watching as she carefully ran her hand over it. "It's fine," he said reassuringly.

"Oh I believed you when you said that," Beckett said simply. "But," she then leaned over and kissed him lightly on the lips before she pulled back enough to look at him. "Remember you do owe me."

"You're calling it in?" Castle asked, a rush of excitement going through him.

Beckett didn't respond to that, merely leaned over and kissed him again, that time a lot deeper and harder. When they absolutely had to breathe she pulled away and out of his embrace before simply standing up, walking over to his room.

Breathing out hard, Castle stood and strode after her, closing the door behind him and locking it before she was in his arms. He let her take over then while their lips met for a third time, their hands grasping tightly at one another, wanting to feel each other in their embrace.


	18. Epilogue- Remembering The Reasons

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title of this chapter is a lyric from the song My Valentine by Paul McCartney, from his album Kisses on the Bottom.

Knocking on the door in two quick taps, Castle was a little surprised to hear Julia cry out inside, "He's here," before he unlocked the door and stepped into Beckett's apartment.

"Mommy, he's here!" Julia cried as she ran into her mother's room.

"I heard you sweetie," Beckett said as she turned from the mirror.

"Can I give him the present?" Julia asked eagerly.

"Not yet, wait until I'm finished so I can watch him open it," Beckett said. "Go out and say hello though and tell him I'm almost ready."

Nodding, Julia whirled around and ran back out, seeing Castle was in the kitchen. "Hi!" she said as she abruptly stopped before running to him.

"Hey Julia," Castle said as he picked her up. "How're you?"

"Excited," Julia giggled a little shyly. "Are you?"

"A little bit, sure," Castle said, taking her over to the couch. "So tell me how it went in class today."

"My friends liked my Valentines," Julia said, bouncing up and down a little. "And everyone asked about Lilo and Stitch on them. The boys didn't say I was their Valentine."

"I'm glad to hear that," Castle said, having talked to her about that before the fourteenth had arrived.

"Oh! Mommy said she's almost ready," Julia exclaimed suddenly. "I was supposed to say."

"And you just did," Castle reassured her. "How was the party after you got the Valentines?"

"Fun," Julia said simply before she squirmed out of his hold and climbed down with his help.

Watching her run to the dining room table, Castle shook his head quickly, wondering what exactly she was so excited about. "You want to play our game?" he asked when she handed him her tablet. She didn't answer as she had climbed up on the couch next to him, and he helped her up before she slipped under his arm. "Okay, then what do you want to do?" he asked as she sat on his lap and took the device back.

"I wanna watch this," Julia said, pointing to the screen.

"Why don't we watch another video," Castle said, quickly tapping so he could type out a few words on the search bar, not sure if it would be a good idea to watch the music video for the song _Faster_. "A dancing one, since we haven't watched those in a while."

"Kay," Julia said eagerly. "Who?"

"Jennifer or Maria; or Kellie?" Castle asked.

"Ooh, the Flamenco, please," Julia giggled.

"Really? I thought you would say Jennifer's Samba," Castle said in surprise as he tapped out the words on the screen.

"After can we see?" Julia asked.

"Sure," Castle said. "If we finish before your mom comes out."

Checking herself one last time, Beckett carefully touched the back of her head, and sure everything was set, she walked out to the living room, seeing that Castle and Julia were watching something on the screen. "Let me guess," she said, making the two jump. "The Samba?"

Looking up, Julia glanced up at Castle before she climbed off of his lap, and hurried over to her mother, hugging her side. "Do I get it now Mommy?" she asked eagerly.

"Yes, go ahead," Beckett said. She watched her daughter skip to her room and then looked up at Castle as he walked to her. "Good enough for wherever we're going?" she asked as he looked her over.

"It is," Castle said, grabbing her right wrist. "Except for these. Julia, are you going to come back out?" he called.

"I'm here," the little girl said, coming back into the room with something behind her back.

"Good, I wanted you to see this," Castle said before he walked over to the entry where his overnight bag was. He dug around in it before pausing and glancing at Beckett and Julia who were standing in the doorway. "Actually, I think I need to change this a little. If you don't mind," he directed to Beckett.

"By all means," she said.

"Okay, close your eyes Julia," Castle said. He pulled something out of the bag then and turned to the little girl, telling her she could look.

"A puppy!" Julia cried happily before she grabbed the stuffed dog that was white with black patches on it. She hugged it tightly to her before she felt something silky against her cheek. "Is this for my mommy?" she asked Castle, holding up the white rose that was tucked into the dog's collar.

"I already gave her flowers," Castle said, nodding towards the kitchen counter where a bouquet of red and white roses was in a vase. "That's just for you."

"Thank you," Julia said with a smile.

"You-" Castle started to say when Beckett went into the kitchen and grabbed a vase for Julia's rose. "What's that?" he asked the little girl as he could see the package that she was holding along with the dog.

Blushing, Julia shook her head and looked at her mother as she placed the rose in the vase. "Do you have something for Mommy?" she asked then.

"I do," Castle said, glancing at Beckett before he went back to his bag and pulled out a small box.

Taking it, Beckett pushed up the velvet lid, revealing a pair of earrings and a bracelet. She studied the items for only a moment to take them in, and then stepped up to Castle, grabbing his tie to pull him down to her lips. It was a little bit of a struggle to keep from becoming a little heated in that kiss, but she managed to pull away without going so far as to forget her daughter, who was looking down at her dog by the time they looked at her. "Want to see what I got sweetie?" she asked to let her know it was okay to look up.

"Can I?" Julia asked softly. When both her mother and Castle nodded she hurried to them and looked at the jewelry inside the box. "Oooh," she breathed eagerly. "Those are pretty, and they match your necklace Mommy!"

"So I have a set?" Beckett asked as she set the box on the counter to change her silver earrings for the aquamarine earrings hanging from a delicate chain under a small diamond.

"Well, they're not exactly a set, but I thought you might like to have something matching your necklace," Castle said, watching as she slipped off her thin silver bracelets for the silver hooped bracelet. "Too many aquamarines?" he asked as she was looking at the two small ones that tipped the ends.

"No," Beckett said simply, smiling slightly before she kissed him briefly. "Okay sweetie, you can give him your gift."

"Come here," Castle said, taking Julia's present she handed him. He led her to the couch and started to unwrap the box with her standing in the middle of his arms. When he uncovered what was inside, he laughed shortly and said, "I must have been talking a lot about that Concorde," taking out the model plane from its packaging.

"Do you like it?" Julia asked worriedly, looking at him.

"I do, I'll have to find a place for this one, now that I have the Korean Air we picked out set up," Castle said. "Want to help me put this together?" he asked the little girl. As she nodded he then remembered something and looked over at Beckett asking, "Do we have time?"

"It's a small plane, so yes, go ahead," she said, watching them.

"You're not kidding," Castle said absently as he took the wings from Julia and then set them under the plane. Snapping them in place he had her hold it before getting the stand. "Help me with the stand… there," he said as she set the plane on it. "Okay, that is a nice plane," he said as he held it in front of them. "You know there's a Concorde on the _Intrepid_ , we should go see it one day if you want to," he said to the little girl.

"Do you fly?" Julia asked a little apprehensively.

"No, you just walk through it and you can even see where the pilots flew the plane," Castle said. "But only if you want to go."

"We'll give her some time to decide," Beckett said as Julia looked to be thinking that over.

"Thank you very much for the plane Julia," Castle then said, kissing the side of her head.

"Thank you for my puppy," Julia said, hugging the stuffed animal and kissing its head.

"What are you going to call it?" Beckett said.

"JoJo," Julia said immediately.

"Interesting name, were you listening to _Let It Be_?" Castle said to his fiancée.

"When we got home," Beckett said, laughing slightly. "Your grandpapa is going to be here soon Julia, why don't you put JoJo in your room with Lindiana?"

"Lindiana?" Castle asked.

"Her horse she won in the Hamptons," Beckett said, standing up. "She decided to change the name after we listened to that song a few days ago."

"Okay, well, I'm just glad she likes the dog. I got that in the hopes of stopping her from asking you for one," Castle said, following her to the kitchen where he leaned against the counter.

"I hope that works because since you started watching that show she has been driving me crazy asking," Beckett said, shaking her head. "Though I'm guessing I'm just getting payback for asking my parents for a horse when I was her age." She looked down at the bracelet wrapped around her wrist and smiled saying, "You did a lot better this year."

"Better choice?" Castle said.

"No," Beckett said simply. She was going to say more when there was a knock at her door and she went to answer it as Julia ran out from her room. "Hi Dad," she said as she let him step inside.

"Grandpapa!" Julia said eagerly, throwing her arms around him after Beckett had stepped out of the way.

"Hello Julia, you look very nice tonight for the show," Jim said, hugging her and kissing the top of her head.

"Do you see my dress and my band? Mommy got them for my present for today," Julia said proudly as she touched her green headband matching the green sash of her white dress.

"So you're going to see a show?" Castle asked after he'd shaken Beckett's father's hand.

" _Mary Poppins_ ," Beckett said, smiling as Julia spun around for her father. "Okay, here's her bag," she said. "I'll give you a call tomorrow when she can come back home." She was a little surprised when he grabbed her wrist and smiled saying, "His gift to me."

"You made a nice choice," Jim said as Beckett went to the chair and sat as Castle handed her Julia's coat.

"He did," Beckett said before Castle could say anything. "I know you'll be good, so all I'll tell you Julia is to have fun, and keep as warm as possible outside. Oh, and remember to behave at Serendipity, it's a very nice restaurant and you want to go back again right?" When her daughter nodded she tucked the little girl's tartan scarf under her coat and then put on her knit hat the same dark blue as her coat. "Alright, your mittens are on, you have your shoes, your new dress, I think you're ready. Say goodbye to Castle."

Turning to him, Julia cried out when he picked her up and giggled saying, "Will you have fun with Mommy?"

"Probably, I hope you'll have a lot of fun at the show. If it's a good one I might take you to see it again after Alexis comes home," Castle said, kissing her cheek.

"Kay, I'll tell you tomorrow," Julia said. "Thank you for giving me JoJo."

"And thanks for the Concorde," Castle said, letting her kiss his cheek. "Night Julia, I love you." He wasn't surprised when she merely nodded a couple times in response, and he then set her down, watching her run to her mother.

"Hmm, I hope you have a great night," Beckett said as they hugged each other tightly. "And I'll see you tomorrow. I love you sweetie."

"Love you Mommy, I hope you have fun too, will you tell me about what you do," Julia asked.

"I'll see," Beckett said simply before she shared a kiss with Julia. Standing up she hugged her father tightly and said as he opened the door, "Thank you for taking her Dad, have a great time."

"We will," Jim said, taking Julia's hand before they walked down the hallway.

"Okay," Castle said, turning to her when he closed the door. "Ready?"

"I just need a coat and then I will be," Beckett said, taking one from the closet and slipping it on as he watched.

Looking on, Castle was a little confused when he saw something stuck in the bun in her hair. He wanted to ask her about it, but she turned to him then, so he instead put his own coat on as he hurried out of the apartment with her and down the hall.

* * *

Brushing off their coats after walking inside the building their cab had stopped outside of, Beckett glanced at Castle and asked, "Spanish?"

"Oh so you got that," he said jokingly as he helped her take off her coat.

"With a name like La Sevillana, I'm not really sure what else I was supposed to think," Beckett said wryly. She waited for him to turn in their things at the coat check, and turned to the door that was on the opposite wall of the entry.

" _Gracias_ , and if you'll just go through that door you'll be starting your dining experience," the employee said once she'd taken their coats.

"Thanks," Castle said before he walked to Beckett and held the door open for her. "It's… downstairs?" he said in surprise as they came to a steep staircase down that was entirely in brick.

"It's a _bodega_ ," Beckett said with a smile. She started going down, but after a few steps realized he wasn't following her.

"You said bod-" Castle started to say.

"It's a restaurant," Beckett said, pulling him down. "They have these in Spain; my dad's been to a few. They're supposed to have really good food."

"A little cold," Castle said as he could feel the chill from the weather permeating through his suit.

"I'm sure they have the restaurant heated," Beckett said quickly before she came to the last step. They were greeted by a host, and taken through a bar before getting to their small table in a more dimly lit room. "This is very different from Le Cirque," she said to Castle teasingly once they were seated and had a menu for them to share.

"It is," he said absently, looking around. "I don't know if it seems that romantic…"

"I think so," Beckett said. "Think of people in Spain right now… well, earlier, doing the same thing in _bodegas_ there."

"You make a good point," Castle said. "It might grow on me, let's see how their wine is and I could change my mind."

Shaking her head though she knew he was joking, Beckett brought his attention to the menu saying, "Since you're so eager to try it, why don't we choose that wine first?" She smiled as he quickly took the menu, and she leaned over to see the names in the dim light. When she felt his hand snaking around her waist, she couldn't help smile a little wider as she then asked him how writing had gone for him that day; not blaming him for taking advantage of the lack of light.

* * *

"I've thought a lot about this for a while, and I've made my decision," Castle commented as their meal was winding down.

"What?" Beckett asked, looking at him. She saw he was swirling the rest of the liquor in the small glass he'd gotten and said, "You're in love with their sherry?"

Looking confused, Castle looked over at her and saw the smile on her face. "Ah, no, you would think that though. No, I'm thinking I need to take you to Spain," he told her, pretending at first to laugh.

"And what brought you to that decision? The drink, the dinner?" Beckett asked.

"This place," Castle said.

"It grew on you," Beckett said with a smile.

"It did, and I have to admit, it's pretty romantic," Castle said.

Hiding her smile behind her hands, Beckett felt her bracelet sliding down her wrist and shook it back up before she said, "So based on a restaurant, you want to go to another country."

"The food was good, but also I know you want to go," Castle said, before he finished the rest of his drink and set down the glass.

"I would be lying if I said I never toyed with the idea," Becket admitted. "But really, you don't need to take me."

"Did your parents ever go together?" Castle asked, wondering why she was protesting when he realized what might be the problem. When she wouldn't look at him he stood saying, "Why don't we head back?"

Looking up at him in surprise, Beckett nodded, and got up from her chair before they left, going back up the chilly flight of stairs. In the cab ride back, she kept glancing at Castle, wondering if he was a little irked she hadn't really answered his question. She became a little concerned that was the case, so as soon as they were back in her apartment and he was hanging her coat she turned around to face him. "They were going to go," she said quickly.

"When?" Castle said, hesitating slightly before asking. He sighed when she only looked at him and he knew that trip was supposed to be sometime in 1999. "I'm sorry," he said, knowing thinking of that proposed trip was very hard for her to do.

"It's alright, my dad was always trying to get her to agree to take one of his trips with him, but she never really had a chance to go; it was usually work that got in the way. Though when I was a lot younger it was because I was too young for her to just leave me and go to Europe and she didn't want to take me yet. But finally she agreed to go, because I was in college then, and she told me after she said yes that she was being driven crazy by him every time he came back," Beckett said with a slightly nostalgic smile. "And she just wanted a trip like that with him. Two weeks in a different country that he made sound magical; which for my dad is saying a lot; but I think it can be fairly romantic there. But she was looking at it as a second honeymoon, I think they both were."

Placing his hand on her shoulder, Castle said, "He still goes to Spain."

"He does," Beckett said with a nod. "But it was seven years before he went back after his last visit in 1998. I don't think he enjoys it as much as when my mother was still here to listen to him describe his trips, but, he does love to go."

"We don't need to go if it's a problem for you," Castle said.

"It's not so much a problem, there's a part of me I worry would feel guilty about going when she never got the chance," Beckett said thoughtfully. "But I think my mom would tell me I was being ridiculous. And she would be right, plus, I would like to go with Julia."

"For our first trip we can do that," Castle said easily. "Maybe we can go back and go on our own."

Smiling, Beckett shook her head and said, "I don't know about going twice, I barely worked out going to San Francisco for a week."

"You never know what the future could bring," Castle said.

"I'll be right back," Beckett said, squeezing his arm before she went into her room.

Watching her go, Castle snapped his eyes back up and shook his head before busying himself at the fridge. He opened the bottle of champagne he'd brought, and poured out two glasses by the time she came back out. "More gifts?" he asked, seeing the plain white box in her hands. "Or a photo album?"

"Photo album?" Beckett asked as she sat on her couch and crossed her leg over the other, waiting for him to join her. "I'm surprised you didn't ask if I had something for you," she told him as she took the glass he handed to her. She then held up her engagement ring to him as he sat down and watched as he slid it onto her finger.

"I didn't have a chance to remember," Castle said simply as he watched her rub her thumb on the band of the ring. He then took off the lid of the box, and saw a manila envelope on top of a blue sheet of paper. He glanced at fiancée, but she only watched him, so he picked up the envelope, opening it and pulling out a stack of papers. Reading over the first one he suddenly went through the rest of the stack and then looked at her.

"It's not really official there are signatures that need to be obtained, and you need to sign it too," Beckett said, waiting for a reaction from him.

"You had to, but I see you did that already on this first page," Castle said. "Why?"

"Because we've said over and over Julia is your daughter, just not officially. I'm a little tired of us saying that and I thought this might get us closer to 'officially'," Beckett replied.

"And you're giving them to me to keep until that point," Castle stated. When she nodded he leaned over then, and kissed her gently before he slowly moved back. He looked down at the papers and said, "I'll be keeping this safe until then but… thank you." He set the papers back inside their envelope, and then carried it to his bag, tucking them in securely before heading back to her. "So this is a script," he said once he was sitting down and had looked back inside the box. "From Star Trek and it's got Shatner's and Nemoy's signature."

"You said _Mirror, Mirror_ is your favorite episode right?" Beckett asked, a little less sure of that gift.

"This is great," Castle said. "That bookstore in Dublin?" he asked as he paged through the script.

"No, a collector here in the city," Beckett said, smiling as she could tell he liked it. "He apparently had another copy and it had the signatures of everyone from the cast, so he wanted to sell that one for some money to buy… something with Star Wars. He had a long monologue about it, I spaced out after a few minutes."

"Interesting choice of words," Castle said before he set the script back in the box. He leaned over then, kissing Beckett gently again before he said, "If I had to choose between the gifts though, I think it would be those papers."

"At least you don't have to choose," she said, smiling widely as she felt a great sense of relief as she'd had no idea how either gift was going to go. "But wait," she said when he moved in to kiss her again. "Those are a kind of assurance that I'm not joking when I talk about you adopting her. I wanted you to know I'm serious about that."

"I know, and you didn't really need to give me the papers," Castle said. "I knew every time we were saying that you were serious. You definitely would have made me forget the idea if you weren't. So," he said as he picked up their glasses and handed one to her. "To tonight."

Beckett fought back a smile at that as they tapped their glasses together, and once she'd taken a sip asked, "Is that for dinner and the gifts or from this point on?"

Castle didn't answer that, instead he stood up and went over to her computer and went onto her music program. When music started to play through the apartment he went over to Beckett who was standing between the two rooms. "I don't think I need to really say," he said as he took her hand and then led her over to the middle of the living room where she wrapped her arms around his neck before he could say anything.

"I don't know Castle," Beckett said after they'd been swaying a little to the slow, soulful music. "I would think you had an ulterior motive."

"Why?" Castle asked as he pulled away slightly to look at her.

"Coltrane?" Beckett simply said.

"I can easily switch it to someone else," Castle said simply.

Shaking her head slightly at that as she was already aware that he wouldn't, Beckett tried to press her cheek to his and realized that he was almost rubbing his face against the side of her neck. But she then noticed something else, and pulled back slightly asking, "What are you sniffing my neck for?"

"What?" Castle asked in slight surprise.

"I can tell," Beckett said simply as he pulled back to look at her.

"Your perfume," Castle finally confessed. "It's new… oh, Julia's gift to you I'm going to take a guess?"

"Yes, she presented me with a bottle of this after we got back home," Beckett said, smiling at the memory. "She chose it and my dad helped her buy it, so it's from them both essentially."

"It's…" Castle said. "What is it exactly before I say anything else?"

"Stella," Beckett said simply.

"Paul's daughter has perfume? I thought she was a designer; according to Julia," Castle said in surprise.

"She is, but she has perfume, and there you have it," Beckett said. "Not any good?"

"I didn't say yet," Castle said. He then brushed his lips against her, ghosting just barely above her skin, and feeling her shiver for a second in response in his arms. "But, I think she made an interesting choice. I would say that it suits you; delicate, but not delicate enough to overpower."

"Great, that vindicates my promise to my daughter," Beckett said. She smiled when he pulled back to look at her again and said simply, "I told her I would wear it tonight, and she realized you'd be with me. So she naturally asked if you'd like it."

"Naturally," Castle said simply before he finally raised his head and let her lean her cheek against his.

Beckett smiled at that and they were quiet again when she heard an odd noise that was happening every time they moved together. "What's that sound?" she asked.

"What?" Castle said.

"It sounds like paper," Beckett said, looking at him.

"Paper?" Castle said trying not to let his panic show. "I think you must be hearing things," he said quickly.

Frowning slightly, Becket let it drop then, but every so often as they continued to dance, she could hear the same sound. But eventually she became distracted when he whispered something into her ear. "I thought we had already settled that?" she asked with a slight smile.

"We did, but I'm still thinking somewhere inside your mind you're still very mad I let our suspect out of your car," Castle said.

"No, though that was really foolish, you-" Beckett started to say with a sigh.

"Need to ask you first, I know," Castle finished with her. "I really thought he was having a heart attack though. But I managed to still catch him after."

"I know, and you redeemed yourself," Beckett said, turning her head so she could look at him. "So I don't think that's something you need to concern yourself with anymore."

"But almost six years and I make that kind of mistake," Castle said.

"Considering you're not a detective, you should be proud of the record you have," Beckett said. When she saw the realization on Castle's face, she leaned in and brushed her lips to his. She saw his gaze turn to her, and she did it a second time before he pulled her against him. She didn't miss the obvious sound of paper as their bodies pressed together, but was distracted from it again as he kissed her hard. They had stopped moving to the music, and were soon grasping onto each other before they slowly pulled away. Though that had been short, her lips were slightly swollen and she breathed out deeply as Castle reached up to the back of her head.

About to start undoing the bun her hair was done up in, Castle was reminded of what he'd seen on her earlier that night. He reached up and pulled out the object, seeing that it was a comb. "New?" he asked, holding it on his hand as he looked at her.

"It was my mom's," Beckett said simply. "My dad bought it for her."

"In Spain? And you just decided to wear it tonight?" Castle asked, wondering at the coincidence.

"He gave it to me earlier today after we brought Julia home," Beckett explained easily. "We want her to have some things that were my mom's, and he knew she wanted me to have that."

"It's beautiful," Castle said, looking over the black comb in the shape of a fan with an abstract floral pattern in between each spoke.

"I know, my mom never really wore it much, but she always told me she'd give it to me," Beckett said.

"You should wear it a lot more," Castle said, letting her go with his other arm and setting the comb down on the coffee table to begin removing the pins left in her hair. When she slightly hissed in response he murmured an apology, brushing his lips over her shoulder, and watched as her hair fell around her shoulders. The pins with the comb, his hands were free and the first thing he did was to pull her to the couch.

As soon as they were sitting down, Beckett kissed him deeply, but was a little surprised when he pulled away and started taking off his jacket. She wanted to comment on that, but when he'd tossed it onto an armchair she didn't see much point to it. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and gasped under her breath when he pulled her onto his lap. She kissed him passionately then, feeling him holding her tightly against his chest. She shuddered in joy when he ran his fingers gently, slowly through her hair, and she pulled away saying, "I should have told you, you didn't really need the music to set a mood."

"No, but it doesn't hurt," Castle said before he kissed her. They were a little frantic that time, and when they parted he reached down her legs to her shoes.

Looking on, Beckett was a little surprised as he pushed the heels off her feet, and she tensed up slightly as his hand slid up the side of her leg before he reached the hem of her dress. She turned his head to hers, and kissed him deeply as he slid under the black fabric.

Since her dress was nearly skin tight, Castle found he wasn't able to get too far up her thigh, but he took what he could get as he could feel what Beckett was going through in his hold. She tensed and once she had relaxed, she pressed against him before she cupped his face. He took the kiss she gave him that time, and they were quickly a little rough with each other. He took his hand out from underneath her dress, to better hold onto her as she was sliding her fingers through his hair before clasping them together around the back of his neck.

Her head tilting back as she could feel Castle's lips around her neck, Beckett closed her eyes tightly, her breathing becoming panting as he descended from the hollow of her throat to her breasts. She pulled him up to her when he started to reach for the back of her dress, and she stared at him for a long moment before they began to kiss yet again, her hands grasping at him almost desperately.

Knowing what she was doing, Castle waited until they'd finished kissing each other before he acted. He only hoped she felt they'd spent enough time working up to it as he picked her up, carrying her straight to her room.

"Put me down," Beckett said, a little startled by that but allowing him to continue until they were near her bed. Once her feet were on the floor, she pulled him down to her lips, and as they were busy kissing she reached up and tugged on his tie, getting the knot undone before the fabric was discarded next to them. She felt his hands again on her back, trying to grab at her zipper before she slipped out of his grasp and once she could see his hands, she took them, placing them on her hips.

"You're going to need to stop," Castle said, his voice a little distorted in his frustration and desire. "I'm going to end up tearing this dress off of you and I do not want to do that."

"That's the reason why I wore it again," Beckett said simply; since it was the same tight, sleeved black dress she'd worn to the party in the Hamptons after Christmas. "But I want you to think of something."

"What? And I don't know about that because I'm having a really hard time thinking of anything else…" Castle said, trailing off as he ran his hands over her sides and then back up around her breasts before she stopped him by stepping up against him. "Kate, please-" he started to say, not really caring that he was begging, too desperate.

Kissing him to quiet him, and also to keep him from getting too out of control, Beckett began to unbutton his shirt, soon feeling his hands join her. She would have smiled if she wasn't busy trying to coax his tongue into her mouth. She finally succeeded, and finally got his shirt open, and together they got it off of him. She let him reach to the back of her dress, and didn't stop him when he began to pull the zipper down.

Breathing in deeply as he let his fingertips brush against Beckett's skin while opening the dress, he kissed her again. Sliding his hands underneath the fabric, he went slowly, waiting for her to try and stop him. But she didn't move until her arms were out of the sleeves, and he was busy getting the dress off her hips so he didn't see her movement until he was standing up. He frowned when he saw her arms over her breasts and kissed her deeply, trying to pull them off.

When they had pulled away from each other, Beckett could hear the groan of frustration that came out of his mouth and she looked up at him before smiling slightly, beckoning him to lean down with her finger. She whispered into his ear, and could almost see in her mind his eyes growing wide. But her laughter was stopped as he took off the last bit of clothing she had on, and hurriedly took off the rest of his. It was only then that she took her arms off of her chest, and she pushed on his carefully, until he was sitting on the bed since the back of his knees hit it.

A little startled by her forcefulness, Castle needed an extra few seconds before he realized that Beckett was climbing onto his lap, her knees on the bed on either side of him. He kissed her hard as he allowed his hands to cup her breasts, and together they both groaned slightly in pleasure as they were soon coupled together. He ran his hands down her back, promising himself that if he had to, he was going to make sure they took it easy. But as soon as she started to move on him; and hard; that resolve went out the window as he was suddenly realizing that she was there, she was with him and giving herself to him. With that, he began to encourage her rhythm which was soon very rough between them, and he groaned again, that time as he realized what he'd done. But he couldn't stop himself, and in the back of his mind; as she drew his head down to her chest; he promised himself to try and break their trend that night before she very easily distracted him.

Tilting her head back as Castle cupped her breasts in his hands, Beckett faltered a little in her thrusts before he took both mounds, and she was panting for air more from that than anything else. She leaned her head down, and kissed at his hair, holding on to him tightly before he pulled back from her. She had half expected him to move them around, but was a little startled when she found herself looking over the end of the bed and down at the floor. Before she could really protest or say anything about the change, he was back inside of her. She let out a short cry as it was rough, but it was one of pleasure as she could feel herself throbbing; almost from head to toe; and she didn't want to wait. Moving with him, she wasn't too surprised when her arms slid down onto the bed the instant his fingers found the swollen nub at the apex of her legs. Clutching at the bed, she did her best to match him, and tried to hold on long enough so they could be close enough together when they reached the edge as time seemed to be an unknown concept to them both while they lost themselves in their lovemaking.

Kissing at Beckett's back, Castle was going through the same thing and he kept them in that position until he felt she was very close. He pulled away from her, turning her onto her back as she moved with his touch. Her legs spread for him, and her chest was almost heaving with her heavy breath. He knew she was subconsciously trying to bring him back inside of her, but he resisted the temptation though it was literally painful.

Her breath pausing for a second as she watched his hand run along the inside of her thigh, Beckett grew a little frustrated. But his touch was still affecting her, and she felt the trail of his fingertips long after he'd moved to lay his hand on her abdomen. When he took her hand she looked up at him, and breathed in once before he led their fingers down together to the junction of her legs. She bit her lower lip hard at their first touch, and finally couldn't take it. Reaching up, she grabbed him by the shoulders, and pulled him back down to her.

Hissing heavily as they were suddenly and a little abruptly coupled together again, Castle only took a second to recognize the change. He had wanted to try and be a little gentle, but it was too much to really resist, and he started to move, kissing her deeply before he had to stop and pull out of her. He heard her groan of frustration, but didn't try and explain himself. He knew turning her around on her knees on the bed as they sat up was enough as he pressed behind her, grabbing her to hold her tightly against his chest. He whispered her name, and her responding kiss let him know that she was very much alright with how things were at the moment, and he took full advantage of that.

Her head rolling back on Castle's shoulder as his hands ran down the front of her body, Beckett could feel the slight sheen of perspiration building up in response to everything he'd done to her so far that night. She knew she wasn't going to take much more, and she tried to stop moving to let him know that. But it was little surprise when he wouldn't let her, reaching over to her hip to hold her tightly and move her with him. She was breathing hard, her reactions becoming a lot more vocal as she finally lost her last shred of self restraint and let herself cry out. She had a feeling it was his name, but like so many times before; the pleasure that she was feeling because of him was too much to know for sure. She sensed he must have joined her, because as they almost collapsed down to the bed some time later, breathing roughly together, she felt him behind her, holding him against her as they tried to regain their ability to move.

Though he thought he would be able to talk, Castle didn't say a word until Beckett had reached back to touch his cheek and he finally decided he needed to say something to her. "We need to stop that," he said, still breathing heavily a little.

"I know," Beckett said, aware of what he meant. She didn't think she'd be able to find the strength, but she managed to turn over and looked at him saying, "I can't stop myself."

"Neither can I," Castle said, pushing himself up, not surprised to feel exhausted. "But I feel like this is going to be my last chance with you. I remember," he said, helping her sit up. "Feeling a sense of shock that you were here with me."

"Me too," Beckett said. "But we've been together for two weeks and… I think we need to realize that we're not going anywhere for the moment. We survived, everyone survived and here we are."

"You make a great point," Castle said, helping her to the top of the bed since they'd ended up laying the wrong way. Once they were under the covers he kissed her, but wasn't too shocked when he couldn't find the energy to do much more than that; it wasn't the first time that had happened with the way they'd been intimate the last two weeks. "But, we're not heading out tomorrow so we might be able to try and take things a little more calmly."

"If you can control yourself," Beckett said with a slight smirk.

"Yes, and you realize that applies to you as well," Castle said as she lay on her side facing him. At the look she gave him he quickly said, "Oh come on, the way you were teasing me."

"It's not going to happen again tonight," Beckett said, her voice a little fatigued. "But yes, there's tomorrow." She heard Castle murmuring in agreement, and could tell he was weary as well. She slid a little closer to him, and almost the second she closed her eyes she was asleep, filled with a kind of satisfied exhaustion that stuck with her as she began to dream.

Though he was tired, Castle managed to stay awake a little while longer after Beckett had fallen asleep. He was able to lean down and kiss her on the lips, murmuring a few words he knew she wouldn't hear, before he wrapped his arms around her and finally took the rest his body desperately needed.

* * *

Turning over, Beckett slowly opened her eyes and saw that the room was bright with sunlight. Glancing over at the clock on her nightstand, she saw the time and sighed, seeing it was almost eight thirty. For a second she was a little confused, until she remembered the night before. Biting her lower lip as she looked at Castle next to her; still fast asleep; she recalled being awoken at what had to be at least two in the morning by his whispering her name. He'd been caressing her body at the same time, and was soon pleasuring her. She almost thought it was a dream, but she could still feel the sensation of his mouth and tongue along her skin and she could feel her cheeks slightly heating up as she remembered what she had done as soon as she'd stopped almost shrieking his name.

Moving onto her side, Beckett could feel the cold of her pillow which took away some of the heat her skin was generating. She'd paid back the favor for Castle, and somehow even that had felt like a dream. She'd taken her time with his body; the same he'd done to her; and she could tell herself honestly that he had been driven crazy. Especially since she could easily remember then the kiss he'd given her after he'd come back to himself. She smirked a little at the memory when he turned over, draping his arm over her stomach. Looking at him, she remembered something else; the night before and that strange sound coming from his jacket. She had no idea what made her think of that, but whatever was the reason she was glad for it since it had bothered her a little that he wouldn't be truthful and tell her what it was.

Getting out of bed the best she could, Beckett managed not to wake Castle up, and she went to their clothes on the floor, putting on his shirt. She buttoned it and then went out to the living room and the armchair where his jacket was. She held it out and as she did, saw the patch of white sticking out of an inside pocket she knew wasn't part of the material. Taking it out, she wasn't really too surprised to see the envelope or that it was addressed to her. She went back into her room, and got up on the bed next to Castle who was still asleep, lying on his back. Tucking her bare legs underneath the comforter, she opened the unsealed flap of the envelope, and took out two sheets of folded paper. Opening it, she saw her name at the top, the date of the day before and then a letter in his handwriting. Looking down at him, she started to read, wondering why he hadn't just given it to her the day before.

_February 14th, 2014_

_Kate,_

_I think I need to begin by apologizing to you for lying a little about what exactly it was I did today before joining you for dinner. I'm obviously not working on Hamptons Heat, but I really wasn't sure if I was going to give this to you. For all I know you could have found this actually and I still didn't give it to you. I wouldn't be surprised if it was that scenario. But I am sorry for not telling you the truth. If writing this letter goes well though, I may try to work on my chapter I'm still in the middle of, to make it so I lied to you only slightly._

_You might be wondering if this letter is because of what happened a year ago, but it's not. Well, I had the idea of writing more to you, but it never really found much inspiration, so I put it aside as a possibility in my mind. Then the crash happened. It was because of that that I decided I needed to write to you. There are things that need to be said, that I need you to know, and I know I have an honest problem in saying things like that face to face. So I guess you can call me a coward, but maybe if you read this, we might talk about it. But let me continue before I waste the front page just trying to explain myself._

_Sitting with you on the 747, while we kept circling JFK, a million questions went through my head. A million different outcomes once we were back on the ground. But one that kept coming to me was the most horrifying. What if I made it, but left that airplane without you? It still disturbs me, two weeks later the thought taunts me without my wanting to think about it and I feel literally sick. It's why I've been so… desperate I think I can safely say when you and I are in our more intimate moments, I don't like the idea of losing you._

_And that brings me to why I wrote this letter. Because when we kissed, what I thought could have very well been our last, I found myself with so much to say to you, to tell you. But the one thing I had to I couldn't say. You are more important to me than you realize Kate. Almost six years together, everything we've been through, our relationship, our love, Julia. All of that has become so much a part of my life I don't know if I could really face the darkness of the unknown without you with me. It's a serious thought, and I couldn't tell you on that plane because I couldn't say it to your face, knowing by your expression every time I looked at you; you were thinking of your daughter._

_I have to admit, I was thinking of her too, praying I wouldn't have to help your dad raise her. I want to be her father, badly, but not without you still here as her mother. I didn't want to do it alone. I don't want to do it alone, I can't do it alone. And I know you're probably thinking why I wasn't thinking of my family, Alexis and my mother. I was, but in the context of thinking if anything happened to you, I would still have them, I would have Julia. But I won't lie, I did think of what they would do without me, should anything have happened to me. Luckily things turned out that none of that became reality._

_But even as the days have gone by, our cuts and bruises have healed, I still go to that same thought. Just because we survived the crash, doesn't exactly mean we're free and clear. That you're going to still be here. It's still there in the front of my mind, though I hate to I think of it. So to take advantage of here and now, with you still here, I had to tell you what I felt, what I feel. We're still a long ways away from the moment we can, but since I'm being honest, there are times I wish we could get married and I could legally adopt Julia right away._

_A lot of things go through your mind when you face your own possible death, as I know we were doing that day. And I keep saying it, but it's true and I'll say it again. I thought of you, always of you. There's so much more that could be said, but I'd just be repeating it and I think you know now what I want you to understand._

_There's a moment where you're with someone; it could be a lifetime, it could be months, days, minutes; but when you're with someone you're in love with, you find that thought of them being gone to be the hardest that could ever cross your mind. And you do everything you can to fight that possibility, to make the most of your time together and to never regret a second of it. And I say it here; I am in love with you Kate. It's not just because I think you're a strong, passionate, intelligent, gorgeous woman; with you I find something I didn't even know was missing from my life. Call that sentiment sappy, romantic drivel if you want to, but it's what I've realized. So our moment, however long we make it last, I will never forget what I have, what you've given me, and what I want, all with you._

_I say this, but I will repeat it here, because now you know what is behind these words. I love you Kate, always._

_Rick_

Breathing in a little roughly as she was incredibly touched, Beckett folded the papers, and nearly jumped when she felt arms coming around her.

"Like I said, I figured you'd find that," Castle said as she turned around to sit up on her knees and face him.

"You were really worried about giving me this?" Beckett asked, holding up the letter.

"Slightly, I wasn't sure if I was saying more than you wanted to hear," Castle said slowly.

"No, not after two weeks ago," Beckett said. "So you really feel that way about me."

Nodding, Castle then said, "I should warn you, I'm probably going to watch out for you more than I do already… slightly more."

"I've noticed you are actually," Beckett said, breathing out a laugh as she was still trying to deal with the emotions that had risen with reading that letter. "But, you know I feel the same way. I was going through that flight," she began. She paused, a little unsure at first about telling him, but she remembered how he'd written pretty much his heart out to her, and she was about to continue when he spoke first.

"You could write a letter if it's too hard to say," Castle suggested.

Laughing softly that time, Beckett said, "I was thinking not only of Julia, but you. I thought I lost you when I woke up, the way you were slumped over, I almost didn't check your pulse. You scared me. And I had a quick instant of going off the plane without you."

"Again, I'm grateful you didn't leave until you were sure I was conscious," Castle said.

"I wanted you to leave with me but, I guess I needed to have those minutes where I worried the plane was going to explode," Beckett said, looking down as she tucked the letter back in its envelope.

"I'm glad I made it out then," Castle said, tilting her head up so she was looking at him. He brushed his lips against hers, and then pulled back enough to whisper, "I meant what I wrote in there."

Looking into his eyes then, Beckett breathed in and out slowly before saying, "I worry about that. Losing you."

"I know, I was aware of that," Castle said, running his hand over her hair.

"No, I nearly did, that's the problem, it's why I keep dreaming of that moment seeing you," Beckett said. "And I couldn't face it, I pushed that fear away, and I think I'm paying for that," she said seriously. "I love you Rick, and I do not want to lose you. Do not want to face a future without you here by my side, without you as my fiancé, husband, not having you here to raise Julia with me. "

"The papers," Castle said, knowing quickly how hard it likely was for Beckett to have said all of that. When she nodded he kissed her lightly again and then said, "You know I've been lucky."

"And me too, but promise me you'll be careful and I'll do the same," Beckett said, finishing in a rush as he opened his mouth to speak. "I have Julia to think of too and I promise I'll be careful."

"Then I'll promise the same," Castle said. "Though I'm going to add Alexis to that."

Smiling, Beckett turned to her nightstand and set down the letter. Turning back to him, she cupped his face in her hands before kissing him gently. Parting, she moved to his ear and whispered, "I'm in love with you Castle."

Castle would have responded to that, except Beckett was at that moment moving his hand under his shirt she had on, and he was brushing his fingers along the bottom curve of her left breast. Shuddering inwardly at the warmth and smoothness of the skin there, he pulled out his hand reluctantly, and unbuttoned the three she had done up in the middle. They were kissing at that moment and it wasn't until he laid her back on the bed did they stop. He opened the shirt and helped her get it off before he tossed it absently aside. His hand reached down, fingers trailing down her left shoulder and to her breasts.

Breathing a little hard, Beckett could sense that something was different that time; different from what they'd done the night before. He was a little more leisurely in his touch, more deliberate which was perfect for her as he gave her more time to feel his caresses as he soon palmed her left breast. In response to that, she pulled him down to it, and breathed in deeply in response as he proceeded to suckle at her. But as before, it was very carefully done, and the instant warmth from that shot through her body, collecting in the apex of her legs until she was pressing them together while he went over both breasts, unable to stop slightly fidgeting in response to the pleasure rising through her.

Moving up to her lips, Castle carefully reached up to caress her lower lip with his thumb, feeling at the same time her hands running from his shoulders to his chest. Grunting a little at the feel of her touch, he leaned down and kissed her hard, soon gently sucking her lower lip into his mouth before he pulled away to nibble on it. He was very careful; having sensed the same thing as Beckett and knowing they would be able to be a little gentler that time. He looked down at her then as he stopped and reached down with his hand, sliding it down her side and to her legs, moving it in between them.

While she was spreading her legs, Beckett was running her hands around his shoulders and chest, feeling him pausing each time she moved around his skin. She could feel he was having the same reaction she was to his touch, and she didn't stop until he lay in between her legs, his hips cradled very firmly against hers. Breathing a little harder at the sensation, she waited for him to move and was surprised when instead he slid his hand again down her side, but that time when he got to her leg, he raised it, and she took his meaning quickly. Wrapping her leg around his waist, the other she bent at the knee as she stretched it as far as she could. As she was doing that, he thrust inside her once, carefully, slowly, and she sucked in a breath of air as it still caused an explosion of pleasure that rushed through her body like a wave.

Not to be immune himself, Castle groaned hard as he kept on moving inside of her, watching as Beckett tilted her head back. He leaned down, sucking on the side of her neck for a moment before he drifted up to her jaw. He could hear her crying out slightly in response each time their hips joined together again, and in return his body would shudder. He kissed her finally, feeling her mouth heavy against his own. He groaned again, that time because she was moving with him, her hips rolling a little side to side. She had never done that before, and he moved off her lips to her ear. He nearly forgot she still had on her jewelry, but managed to avoid the earring there and he began to gently nibble on the shell of her ear.

Crying out a little louder as that action added to what she was already feeling, Beckett carefully ran her nails down his back, sensing the muscles rippling slightly underneath her touch along with how they were moving already. She wrapped her arms around his neck then, feeling him speed up a little. She sighed as she wrapped her other leg around his waist, and their bodies meeting together was little more intense. She was gasping when a short time later he was sliding his hand underneath her body, pressing on the small of her back enough to make her tilt her hips up in response. Biting her lower lip hard, she felt him sink inside of her, and though they were moving so slowly, her head spun as she could feel it, a mass of intense heat and a thrill that almost made her pass out.

As before, Castle was feeling much the same that Beckett was, and he slowed down, to make sure they weren't going to suddenly orgasm. He wasn't ready for that, and he got an idea, stopping his movements completely. He saw the look on her face, and quickly kissed her; hard; to keep her from protesting long enough so it wouldn't matter if she did. When he pulled away he looked down at her and said simply, "I'm enjoying feeling this, us."

Breathing in deeply, Beckett could understand what he meant, and her mind went to his letter, making her say, "We're still here."

"We are," Castle said, knowing quickly what she was thinking. He leaned down and kissed her again as she responded enthusiastically, and proceeded to move again. He was still careful, slow; wanting to make sure she still felt that awareness of them together.

At that point, Beckett wasn't surprised when he stopped again sometime later, knowing he wanted to draw out their experience. She actually found herself enjoying that sense of need as he stopped moving, and wondered if it was because he was being so tender. When they were a little rougher and doing that, she was usually more impatient than anything else. She reached up to his face, stroking his cheek before her fingertips brushed along the slight scar he still had on his forehead from the crash. When he grabbed her hand and kissed it, his eyes closed tightly and she knew what he was thinking. To get his mind off the crash, she drew him to her lips, and they proceeded to kiss as they began to make love to one another once more.

Castle kept that up, thrusting carefully, slowly, unrushed, before stopping and letting himself touch her in some way. The fourth time he did it, she directed him to her breasts, and they were moving a little harder when they made love after that, so he stopped shortly again. When she then guided his hand in between her legs, he wasn't sure it was the best idea to do something that intense, but as he proceeded to move his fingertips in a gentle, circular motion, the slight moan she gave him was enough to keep that up until he couldn't take her reactions; sensing them easily himself.

Feeling him moving yet again, Beckett was slightly surprised he hadn't started to drive into her with all the force he had; she was ready for that. But his body was careful, his kisses not so much, and she took the difference as she felt the ecstasy building to so great a height that she could only dig her nails into Castle's back as she found her climax taking her by force. They had been making love, but the pleasure that washed through every inch of her was making her breathless, wanting more. He was following her, and she held him tightly to her as she could feel him groaning her name into her neck repeatedly.

Not stopping, even as the tension in their bodies eased, Castle slipped his hand in between them, and repeated the same motion as before. It took a little more time, which they didn't care about, and they began to orgasm nearly together, that time less intense, but no less enjoyable as they clung to one another. Beckett held him again against her as they stopped moving, their bodies still trembling, and she kissed the side of his head, tasting the sweat of his pleasure on his skin as he tasted the same on her cheek as he brushed his lips over it.

Pulling back, Castle looked into her eyes, and then smiled slowly before he got an answering one on Beckett's lips. Turning them around and sitting up, he kissed her deeply, and ran his hands down her back as they took all the time they wanted in that moment, feeling it stretching out as they took their pleasure from each other. Whispers filled the room suddenly, interspersed with a few rough, passionate kisses, before they lay back on the bed.

"Kate?"

"Hmm?"

"I love you."

"I love you too Castle."

* * *

"What's a four letter word for saddle?" Castle asked as Beckett handed him a mug of coffee.

"Tack, is that really a clue?" Beckett asked, sitting down next to him on her couch.

"It is, and it fits, the k was throwing me off, so thank you," Castle said before he wrote a few letters and then set down the paper.

"Yes?" Beckett asked when he looked at her.

"I'm just wondering what you want to do with the rest of the weekend," Castle said.

"I didn't have any plans, I wasn't really sure how long my dad would have Julia stay over," Beckett replied before sipping her coffee. "Did you have anything in mind?"

"Well, we can take her to Remy's tonight," Castle began. "Maybe a movie."

"What's playing?" Beckett asked with a smile as she knew he'd seen something in the paper.

"They're showing _Mary Poppins_ , which I believe she hasn't seen yet…" Castle said, trailing off slowly.

"She has, but we can see if she wants to go," Beckett asked, looking at the piece on the movie theater in the paper he was showing her. "Oh, and they have some Disney cartoons, classic ones, before it so she might want to go see that."

"Tomorrow," Castle said, watching her and suddenly unable to resist the temptation. He pulled her hair away from the side of her neck, and pressed a few kisses to her shoulder up to it, her blouse exposing it with the way it was hanging.

Turning towards him to stop him, Beckett then asked, "Tomorrow what?"

"Plans?" Castle asked, making a face when she slid the shoulder of her blouse back up.

"Nothing again, I was just going to see what happens. Though we should let Julia decide, unless you want to do something; just us," Beckett said.

"Actually, that's a good idea," Castle said when there was a knock at the door.

"Come in Dad," Beckett called, standing up as she recognized his knock easily. She smiled as Julia burst through the door and ran to her though her father tried to stop her. She picked her up and swung her around, not minding the melting snow that seeped through her blouse. "Hello sweetie, I missed you," she said, kissing Julia's temple. "Here," she said, setting her down. "Let's get all of this off and make sure you're warm."

"I don't think you need to worry," Jim said as he set his coat over the chair by the door. "She was running down the hall."

"Julia," Beckett said as she handed Castle her daughter's outer layers, her tone slightly warning. "You know you could slip and fall. And you shouldn't make your grandpapa run after you as I'm sure he was doing."

"It wasn't a problem," Jim said easily.

"I'm sorry Grandpapa," Julia said, looking a little chastened. "But I missed you Mommy, I wanted to see you and Castle."

"I forgive you sweetie," Beckett said to reassure her. "And I'm sure he does too. Are you staying?" she directed to her father.

"I can't, I have some papers I need to get to my office for Monday," Jim said, watching as Julia ran over to Castle and hugged him tightly around the neck. He looked at his daughter, and saw that she was watching the two with a soft smile on her lips. He wondered what had happened the night before as he could sense something had changed between the two of them. "But, I wanted to invite you three to dinner tomorrow; Martha as well," he said, directing the last to Castle.

"Where Grandpapa? Where we went?" Julia asked eagerly.

"We'll decide on somewhere if we go," Beckett said.

"Why don't you join us for dinner and a movie tonight?" Castle then asked, looking at his fiancée.

"I think I'll stay in, I might call Frank for a few games of chess," Jim said. "Sorry Julia, I think tonight you should spend tonight with them," he said to his granddaughter when he saw the slight pout on her face.

"We'll see you Sunday then," Castle said as he set Julia down.

"Thank you for dinner and the show, I had fun," the little girl told her grandfather happily as she hugged him.

"So did I, I'll see you later Julia," Jim said, smoothing down her hair and kissing the top of her head. "Goodbye Castle," he said before Julia ran back to him and they sat together on the couch. When he was with his daughter in the entryway he turned to her and said, "You gave him the papers."

"He signed them already," Beckett said in a simple response. When her father looked surprised she nodded saying, "We talked about it a little and he's really grateful I had them prepared already."

"I can imagine," Jim said, looking behind her.

Turning, Beckett smiled as she saw Castle was holding his model plane her daughter had given him, knowing he was explaining it to her as he was pointing to the tail. "She was alright last night?" she then asked, turning back to him.

"She did really great, but I think she missed you both during the play," Jim said. "So I'll agree with you about getting the papers, and I'm sorry I had slight doubts at first."

"She's your granddaughter, you should be a little concerned but, I don't think it's necessary," Beckett said. "Thanks again Dad, and we'll see you tomorrow night."

"Bye Julia," Jim said into the room, smiling when his granddaughter waved at him before looking back down at the plane.

Saying goodbye to her dad, Beckett watched him go, and closed the door before turning back, a little startled when her daughter's arms came around her. "Tired of the plane already?" she asked with a slight smile.

"No, I want you to see it too 'cause you wrapped it when we came home from the store," Julia said.

Laughing slightly, Beckett let her daughter lead her inside and she sat on the couch as Castle finished telling them both about the plane. "Now," she said once the model was back on the table. "Tell us about your dinner and the play."

"It was a good show," Julia said seriously to Castle after looking eager at her mother's request. "We can go with Alexis and Martha."

Looking on as her daughter excitedly talked about dinner and the play the night before, Beckett's attention was distracted for a moment by the sun flashing over the diamonds on her ring. She glanced briefly at her hand that was resting on the back of the couch, and then looked over at Castle who was talking with Julia. She bit her lower lip for a quick moment as she remembered their night before. She recalled the letter and everything in it he'd said to her. It was something that she realized was beginning to dispel those doubts she'd begun to have; about if she was ready to go so far as cement their relationship with a band joining the diamond ring on her finger.

She still had that fear of losing those close to her, which had lessened after she had adopted Julia. But the moment when she had turned to Castle on the plane after she'd awoken had brought it back for an instant, the pain in her chest as she had thought she was going to find herself without him almost making her breathless. Watching him though as he tickled Julia, making her daughter giggle happily in response, she knew she couldn't just walk away from him. At that point, he was so much a part of her life and Julia's that it would be as painful to do that as losing him would be. And she couldn't forget that she was in love with him, it was impossible to consider ending things with that as well.

About to tell her to tell Julia about their plans for that night, Castle was a little surprised when Beckett suddenly leaned over, and kissed him on the lips. He heard the little girl giggle slightly in between them, but returned the kiss before they pulled away from each other. It was then he saw the expression on her face; and recognized it as the same when she'd finished reading his letter; and something else he couldn't really name. But he knew, watching her gather up Julia in her arms, that she was happy and he was relieved to see it as it meant writing out what he felt for her had not been met with a fear of further intimacy between them; as he'd thought might happen. He was so relieved that he cupped her chin in his hand, and kissed her again, very carefully since Julia was leaning against her, but he lingered, hoping to put an unspoken promise into that. That he was going to stick to his emotions he'd put down to paper as a more permanent sentiment that neither of them would be able to forget.

Although they didn't speak a word, Beckett understood why he had done that, and when she parted from Castle, she pressed her forehead against his before Julia brought their attention to her; asking if she could look. Laughing slightly, she wrapped her arms tightly around her daughter again, hugging her tightly as she started telling her about the movie that night. When Castle wrapped his arm around her shoulders, she leaned against him as they listened to Julia eagerly chattering about the movie, and she could feel much more comfortable saying; after surviving the crash to return home to their loved ones; that they were a family. There was no dodging the word, questioning it, and she was content as she watched her daughter's joy while she smiled at them brightly, knowing it had needed to be said for a long time. Distracted then by Castle brushing some of her hair from her cheek she took his kiss and she couldn't help but feel a sense of relief again; at having survived the crash, to be there with Castle and Julia. To be home.


End file.
